Method and system for processing a transaction

ABSTRACT

A method of, and system for, processing payment for a transaction is provided. The method includes providing a user with an option to select payment for the transaction from an account associated with a communication line via which an electronic terminal is connected to a communication network. The communication line is typically a subscriber line and, accordingly, the account is a telephone account associated with the subscriber line. When a user transacts with a vendor for goods and/or services, the user may request to process payment using the telephone account instead of using a credit or debit card. The method includes investigating data using the telephone number associated with the subscriber line and, selectively approving the transaction dependent upon an outcome of the investigation. The invention extends to a transaction processor interface and to and a transaction validation module. The invention also extends to computer program products including the invention.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

[0001] The present invention relates generally to transaction processingand, more specifically, to processing a transaction between a vendor anda user via an electronic terminal connected by a communication line to acommunication network.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

[0002] An increasing number of vendors are offering goods and/orservices which may be purchased via a communication network such as atelecommunication network. For example, a purchaser may conduct atransaction via a subscriber line using a landline telephone or apersonal computer via the Internet. Conventionally, credit or debit carddetails are furnished by the purchaser to the vendor to effect paymentfor the goods and/or services. As many purchasers are hesitant to supplycredit or debit card details over a communication network, an alternatemethod of payment would be advantageous. However, if an alternate methodis used, verification of the payment method should preferably take placeprior to concluding the transaction.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

[0003] In accordance with the invention, there is provided a method ofprocessing payment for a transaction, the method including:

[0004] providing a user with an option, via an electronic terminal, toselect payment for the transaction from an account associated with acommunication line to which the electronic terminal is connected;

[0005] receiving a user request entered into the terminal to processpayment from the account;

[0006] investigating data associated with the communication line; andselectively approving the transaction dependent upon an outcome of theinvestigation.

[0007] Further in accordance with the invention, there is provided amethod of modifying a financial instrument record, the method including:

[0008] receiving transaction data entered into an electronic terminalconnected via a communication line to a communication network;

[0009] obtaining a unique identifier associated with the communicationline; and

[0010] combining the unique identifier and the transaction data to forma financial instrument record.

[0011] Still further in accordance with the invention, there is provideda method of validating a transaction conducted using an electronicterminal connected via a subscriber line to an electronic network, themethod including:

[0012] receiving a financial instrument record associated with thetransaction;

[0013] extracting a unique identifier from the financial instrumentrecord, the unique identifier being associated with the communicationline; and

[0014] interrogating at least one database based on the uniqueidentifier to obtain data associated with the subscriber line andselectively generating a validation status.

[0015] The invention extends to a transaction processing system forprocessing a transaction between a vendor and an electronic terminalconnected via a communication line to a communication network, thesystem including:

[0016] an application interface for providing a user, via the electronicterminal, with an option to select payment for the transaction from anaccount associated with the communication line, and receiving a userrequest entered into the terminal to process payment from the account;and

[0017] a modification module connected to the application interface, themodification module generating a record which includes a uniqueidentifier associated with the communication line and communicating therecord to a validation module which validates the transaction based ondata associated with the unique identifier.

[0018] The invention also extends to a transaction processor interfacefor processing payment of a transaction, the interface including:

[0019] an application interface for providing a user with an option, viaan electronic terminal, to select payment for the transaction from anaccount associated with a communication line to which the electronicterminal is connected, and for receiving a user request entered into theelectronic terminal to process payment from the account; and

[0020] a modification module for creating a financial instrument recordwhich includes a unique identifier associated with the communicationline.

[0021] The invention extends further to a transaction validation modulefor validating a transaction conducted using an electronic terminalconnected via a communication line to an electronic network, the moduleincluding:

[0022] an extraction module for extracting a unique identifier from afinancial instrument record associated with a transaction, the uniqueidentifier being associated with the communication line ; and

[0023] a processor module for interrogating at least one database basedon the unique identifier to obtain data associated with thecommunication line and selectively generating a validation status.

[0024] Further in accordance with the invention, there is provided acomputer program product including a medium readable by a processor, themedium carrying instructions which, when executed by the processor,cause the processor to:

[0025] provide a user with an option, via an electronic terminal, toselect payment for a transaction from an account associated with acommunication line to which the electronic terminal is connected;

[0026] receive a user request entered into the terminal to processpayment from the account;

[0027] investigate data associated with the communication line; and

[0028] selectively approve the transaction dependent upon an outcome ofthe investigation.

[0029] Still further in accordance with the invention, there is provideda computer program product including a medium readable by a processor,the medium carrying instructions which, when executed by the processor,cause the processor to:

[0030] receive transaction data entered into an electronic terminalconnected via a communication line to a communication network;

[0031] obtain a unique identifier associated with the communicationline; and

[0032] combine the unique identifier and the transaction data to form afinancial instrument record.

[0033] Still further in accordance with the invention, there is provideda computer program product including a medium readable by a processor,the medium carrying instructions which, when executed by the processor,cause the processor to:

[0034] receive a financial instrument record associated with atransaction conducted using an electronic terminal connected via asubscriber line connected to a communication network;

[0035] extract a unique identifier from the financial instrument record,the unique identifier being associated with the communication line; and

[0036] interrogate at least one database based on the unique identifierto obtain data associated with the unique identifier and selectivelygenerate a validation status.

[0037] Other features of the present invention will be apparent from theaccompanying drawings and from the detailed description which follows.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0038] The invention is now described, by way of non-limiting example,with reference to the accompanying diagrammatic drawings.

[0039] In the drawings,

[0040]FIG. 1 shows a schematic block diagram of a system, in accordancewith the invention, for processing a transaction;

[0041]FIG. 2 shows a schematic block diagram of a method used in theprior art to process a transaction electronically;

[0042]FIG. 3 shows a schematic block diagram of a method, in accordancewith the invention, for processing a transaction;

[0043]FIG. 4 shows a schematic block diagram of a billing cycle used inthe method of FIG. 3;

[0044]FIG. 5 shows a schematic block diagram of functional modules, alsoin accordance with the invention, used by a vendor;

[0045]FIG. 6 shows a schematic block diagram of transaction validationand processing modules, also in accordance with the invention, used inthe system;

[0046]FIG. 7 shows a schematic representation of a client interface inthe form of an electronic terminal used to conduct the transaction;

[0047]FIG. 8 shows a schematic representation of a screen display orlayout provided at the client interface;

[0048]FIG. 9 shows a schematic representation of a further screen layoutprovided at the client interface;

[0049]FIG. 10 shows a schematic representation of a screen display atthe client interface for choosing a payment method;

[0050]FIG. 11 shows a schematic representation of a screen display atthe client interface for confirming a billing telephone number (BTN);

[0051]FIG. 12 shows a schematic representation of a screen display atthe client which is displayed whilst validation of the client telephonenumber takes place;

[0052]FIG. 13 shows a schematic representation of a flow diagramillustrating the validation process;

[0053]FIG. 14 shows a schematic flow diagram of a bill cycle transactionevent;

[0054]FIG. 15 shows a more detailed schematic block diagram of thetransaction validation and processing modules of FIG. 6;

[0055]FIG. 16 shows a schematic representation of a sample telephonebill platform or account which the system automatically updates; and

[0056] FIGS. 13-15 show schematic flow charts of the validation methodor procedure carried out by the validation module of FIGS. 6 and 15.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0057] Referring to the drawings, reference numeral 20 general indicatesa system for processing payment of a transaction. The system 20 includesa merchant or vendor 22, a plurality of client interfaces in the form ofelectronic terminals 24 (only 1 of which is shown in the drawings), aplurality of telephone companies (Telcos) 26 (only 1 of which is shownin the drawings), and a transaction validation and processing facility28 including a transaction validation and processing module 30 (see FIG.6), also in accordance to the invention. The vendor 22 includes atransaction processor interface defined by an application interface andmodification module 32 (see FIG. 5) and, as will be described in moredetail below, the system 20 with its transaction validation andprocessing module 30 allows a user to purchase goods and/or servicesfrom the vendor 22 via the electronic terminal 24 in such a fashion sothat charges for the transaction are included in a telephone account 34(see FIG. 16) of the user.

[0058] The system 20 is typically configured for use in an Internetenvironment in which a plurality of vendors 22 offer goods and/orservices for sale on the Internet via the electronic terminals 24 whichare typically personal computers (PCs). It is important to appreciatethat the modules 30, 32 describe functional modules or capabilitieswhich may be implemented by a variety of different hardware and softwarecombinations.

[0059] Conventionally, and as shown in FIG. 2, in order to procurepayment for goods and/or services, a user or purchaser using theelectronic terminal 24 enters financial card details, e.g., credit card,debit card, or any other financial instrument details, which are thencommunicated (see line 38 in FIG. 2) to a vendor, as shown at 40, whichthen communicates with a credit card gateway 42. The credit card gateway42 may then either accept or reject the transaction. However, many usersare unwilling to submit financial card information to vendors, interalia, for security reasons. Further, many users who have access to theInternet do not in fact possess financial cards (hereinafter referred toas credit cards) and are thus unable to transact via the Internet.

[0060] Referring in particular to FIG. 3 of the drawings, in oneembodiment of the invention the system 20 receives transaction data 44which is then formatted substantially to resemble a conventional creditcard transaction 46 which is then converted or modified and payment forthe transaction is included in a telephone bill or account as shown atblock 48. As will be described in more detail below, each particulartransaction or billing event is not immediately included in thetelephone account 34 at the Telco 26, but during a billing cycle (seeFIG. 4) which occurs periodically, e.g., daily, weekly, monthly or atany other interval. Accordingly, communications 50 take place duringbilling events between the transaction validation and processingfacility 28 and the vendor 22 and a record of each transaction is keptat the facility 28 as shown by block 52 in FIG. 4. The facility 28, withits transaction validation and processing module 30, in an automatedfashion at the end of a billing cycle, processes the transactions intothe relevant telephone accounts at the relevant Telcos 26 as shown atblock 54.

[0061] Referring in particular to FIG. 5 of the drawings, the vendor 22uses the application interface and modification module 32 to interfaceto the communication network, typically the Internet, so that the usermay communicate with the vendor 22 via the electronic terminal 24. Themodule 32 includes an application interface (API) 56, a customermanagement system (CMS) 58, an automatic number identification (ANI)module 60, a modification module 62, and a communication module 64. Thecommunication module 64 is configured to communicate with thetransaction validation and processing module 30, which is typicallylocated offsite. In use, the API 56 provides the electronic terminal 24with a user interface whereby the user can purchase goods and/orservices and this may be provided in a conventional fashion. Once theuser has selected the goods and/or services he or she wishes topurchase, the API 56 communicates a display screen or form 66 to theelectronic terminal 24 as shown in FIG. 8. Typically, the API 56requests the user to enter into the form 66 name, address, city, state,zip, day time phone number, evening phone number, or the likeinformation. Typically, the evening phone number defines a billingtelephone number (BTN) which is associated with the telephone account34. Thereafter, the various terms and or conditions of the transactionare communicated to the user in the form of a display screen 68 as shownin FIG. 9. The user is then compelled either to accept or decline theterms by activating buttons 70, 72 respectively, typically by means of amouse or pointing device in a conventional fashion.

[0062] Once the user has accepted the terms, the API 56 then providesthe user with a display screen 74 which allows the user to selectvarious different methods of payment for the transaction. For example,the display screen 74 includes a “Visa” button 76, a “MasterCard” button78, “American Express” button 80, and a “bank account” button 82.However, unlike conventional systems, the system 20 provides the userwith a “phone bill” button 84 whereby the user can charge thetransaction to the telephone account 34 (see FIG. 16).

[0063] If the user selects the option to pay via the telephone account34 by activating the “phone bill” button 84, the API 56 then providesthe user with a screen display 86 (see FIG. 11) which requests the userto confirm the BTN associated with the telephone account 34. The screendisplay 86 includes a “yes” button 88 for the user to confirm thetelephone number which is shown at 90, and a “no” button 92 which isactivated in the event of the telephone number being incorrect. If thetelephone number shown at 90 is incorrect, the user then is prompted tore-enter a corrected telephone number. Once the user has activated the“yes” button 88, the API 56 then communicates a display screen 94 to theelectronic terminal 24 to advise the user that he or she should waitwhile the request is authorized. It is to be appreciated however thatthe description above is merely an example of how a user may be providedwith various interfaces to allow the user to select a mode or method ofpayment associated with the telephone account 34. Those skilled in theart will appreciate that user data may be obtained in a variety ofdifferent ways. For example, an application may be downloaded to theelectronic terminal 24 which requests and obtains the relevant data fromthe user and which is then subsequently communicated to the vendor 22.

[0064] The BTN which the user enters into the form 66 should correspondwith the subscriber line 96 (see FIG. 1) via which the electronicterminal 24 is connected to the communication network. Accordingly, theANI module 60 automatically identifies or determines the telephonenumber of the subscriber line 96 so that a comparison between the twocan be made. The BTN thus defines a unique identifier associated withthe communication line and with which the telephone account 34corresponds.

[0065] The user's request, via the electronic terminal 24 and via thesubscriber line 96 (which may be any communication line associated withthe account 34), is then communicated to the CMS 58 which then formatsthe request to form a request record with information provided by theuser via the electronic terminal 24 (see block 98 in FIG. 13). As shownat decision step 100, the module 32 checks to determine whether or not acredit card number is present in the record and, if so, the record iscommunicated to a credit card gateway for processing in a conventionalfashion and the procedure terminates as shown at step 102. Thissituation typically arises when the user has not selected the telephoneaccount option by activating the “phone bill” button 84 but, instead,selected one of the other methods of payment, e.g., the “Visa” button76, the “MasterCard” button 78, the “American Express” button 80, or the“bank account” button 82.

[0066] However, if the “phone bill” button 84 has been activated and acredit card number is not present in the record, the CMS 58, incombination with the modification module 62, modifies the credit cardrecord to include the telephone number identified by the ANI module 60.Accordingly, the credit card or financial record communicated from thevendor 22 to the transaction validation and processing facility 28substantially resembles a conventional or industry standard credit cardrecord except that, instead of a credit card number, the telephonenumber associated with the subscriber line 96 is included (see step104). In the embodiment of the invention in which the credit card numberhas been replaced with the telephone number, and as the recordsubstantially resembles and industry standard credit card record,existing or conventional customer management systems may be used toprocess the transaction. Thus, the CMS 58 may be a conventional customermanagement system.

[0067] The application interface and modification module 32 of thevendor 22, communicates the transaction record to the transactionvalidation and processing module 30 of the facility 28 via thecommunication module 64. The module 30 then receives the record as shownat step 106 whereafter it is processed. The transaction validation andprocessing module 30 (see FIG. 6) includes a line number extractionmodule 108, a processor module 110, and an OBF exchange interface 112.It is important to appreciate that the application interface andmodification module 32 and the transaction validation and processingmodule 30 may be defined by one or more servers which are programmedappropriately. Thus, the blocks or modules may represent functionalcomponents of software running on the server. Typically, each vendor 22has a server programmed and configured to implement the applicationinterface and modification module 32 and the vendors 22 are connectedvia a communications network to a central transaction processing andvalidation facility 28. Accordingly the servers at the facility 28 mayreceive validation and processing requests from a plurality of differentoffsite servers provided at different vendors 22.

[0068] The processor module 110 first checks, at step 114, if all theinformation required for validation has been furnished by the vendor 22and, if not, the request is returned to vendor 22 as shown in step 116.If, however, all the information required by the module 30 is present inthe record, the credit card record received is then parsed and thebilling telephone number (BTN) is extracted from the credit card recordand formatted into a validation request as shown at step 118.Thereafter, as described more detail in FIGS. 13 and 14, the module 30performs various checks during which the subscriber line 96 is validated(see step 120). If the BTN progresses to a LIDB interrogation step (asdescribed in more detail below with reference to steps 264 to 286 inFIG. 17), the request is then reformatted into a LIDB request to obtainLIDB response information (see step 122). The LIDB database 124 (seeFIG. 13) is then interrogated and the LIDB response is received andparsed for relevant information whereafter it is reformatted into a BTNvalidation request as shown at step 126. Thereafter, and as described inmore detail below with reference to FIGS. 18 and 19, the processormodule 110 performs further validation checks (see step 128 in FIG. 13and steps 296 to 338 in FIGS. 18 and 19). Once the request has beeninvestigated, the various databases have been interrogated, and theresults retrieved therefrom processed, the processor module 110 thentranslates the validation response in to a credit card authorizationresponse format, which is typically a conventional or industry standardformat so that an industry standard or conventional CMS 58 can processthe response. The response is then communicated from the facility 28 tothe vendor 22 (see step 130). The CMS 58 then receives the reformattedresponse, updates purchase data, and creates an account for the user asshown in step 132. Thereafter, the API 56 communicates a display screen134 to the electronic terminal 24 which thanks the user for ordering thegood and/or services. Each transaction defines a billing event which isrecorded at the vendor 22 and, together with other billing events, iscommunicated to the facility 28 at the end of a billing cycle (see block136). Typically, this marks the end of the BTN validation procedure fromthe credit card authorization record translation as shown at block 138.

[0069] The method described above broadly translates a record requiringvalidation from an existing financial instrument form, e.g., a creditcard form, to a form that is suitable to be validated based on a uniqueidentifier associated with the subscriber line 96. Although thedescription above, and the more detailed description below, describe thetranslation from a credit card record to an appropriate record tovalidate a ANI/BTN, it is to be appreciated that any data associatedwith a financial instrument may be translated into a BTN format and, inresponse to validation of the BTN, the transaction may be processed.Further, the validation of the BTN may take place one or more timesduring the life cycle of a transaction. For example, the validationprocess may be executed when the user or customer request thetransaction to be included in the telephone account 34 as describedabove and, when the facility 28 receives a plurality of billing eventsor transactions at the end of a bill cycle, the facility 28 may onceagain validate the transaction.

[0070] In certain embodiments, the user or purchaser drives anauthorization event in order to establish whether or not the transactioncan be billed to the telephone account 34. In this case, the BillingTelephone Number (BTN) defines the credit instrument requiringauthorization for billing. The CMS 58 may then drive the request to thefacility 28 in the same format as it would to a Credit CardAuthorization System. An example of the conversion of a credit cardbilling request to a BTN validation record is described in more detailbelow.

[0071] 1. Credit Card Authorization Request to Billing Telephone NumberValidation Request Credit Card Authorization Request Record99m999999123456.........2022269329Ebillittestregistration 12345 MainStreet apt 12 Any City CA950510789202226932930155919920002695 BillingTelephone Number Validation Request Record99m999999999999202226932912345Main StreetCA 9505107892022269329 BillingTelephone Number Validation Credit Card Authorization Record RecordPosition Field Example Positon Field Example  1-15 Tracking99m999999123456  1-15 Tracking 99m999999123456 ID ID 16-35 CREDIT #2022269329 16-25 ANI* 2022269329 36-65 NAME Ebillittestregistration 66-105 ADDRESS1 12345 Main Street 26-56 ADDRESS1 12345 Main Street106-125 ADDRESS2 Apt 12 126-155 CITY Any City 156-157 STATE CA 57-58STATE CA 158-163 ZIP 95051 59-63 ZIP 95051 164-168 Zip + 4 0789 64-67Zip + 4 0789 169-178 BTN 2022269329 68-77 BTN 2022269329 179-188 EVENING# 3015591992 189-195 AMOUNT 0002695

[0072] 2. Billing Telephone Number Validation to a LIDB Request Record

[0073] If the Phone number passes a series of validation checks, it willthen be checked against the LIDB database. In order to do that, therecord must be translated in to a format specific for the LIDB process.Billing Telephone Number Validation Request Record99m999999123456202226932912345Main StreetCA 9505107892022269392 LIDBRequest Record DR1100333333330200021234561010914132401;;102022269329Billing Telephone Number Validation Record LIDB Request Record PositonField Field Positon Field Example  1-15 Tracking ID 99m999999123456 1-2MESSAGE ID DR 16-25 ANI* 2022269329 3-6 FIELD BIT MAP 1100  7-14 CUST ID33333333 26-56 ADDRESS1 12345 Main Street 15-18 MESSAGE TYPE 0200 19-20LTRANS TYPE 02 21-26 SEQ # 123456 57-58 STATE CA 27-27 DATA INDICATOR 159-63 ZIP 95051 28-33 DATE 010914 64-67 Zip + 4 0789 34-39 TIME 13240168-77 BTN 2022269329 40-42 END OF HEADER ;; 43-45 ACCT # LENGTH 10 46-55ACCT # 202226932 9

[0074] 3. LIDB Response Record to a BTN Validation Record

[0075] Once the information is received from LIDB, the record must betranslated back into a format that the Phone Number Validation Systemcan read so the process can continue with additional checks to the phonenumber. LIDB Response RecordDR0210333333330200021234561010914132416;;20222693292019417998 BillingTelephone Number Validation Request Record99m999999123456202226932912345Main StreetCA95051078920222693292019417998 LIDB Response Record Billing TelephoneNumber Validation Record Positon Field Example Positon Field Example 1-2MESSAGE ID DR  1-15 Tracking ID 99m99999912345 6 3-6 FIELD BIT MAP 021016-25 ANI* 2022269329  7-14 CUST ID 33333333 15-18 MESSAGE TYPE 020026-56 ADDRESS1 12345 Main Street 19-20 TRANS TYPE 02 21-26 SEQ # 12345627-27 DATA INDICATOR 1 57-58 STATE CA 28-33 DATE 010914 59-63 ZIP 9505134-39 TIME 132416 64-67 Zip + 4 0789 40-42 END OF HEADER ;; 68-77 BTN2022269392 43-52 ACCT # 2022269329 53-55 RESPONSE CDOE 201 78-80RESPONSE CDOE 201 56-59 PHONE COMPANY 9417 81-84 PHONE COMPANY 9417 # #60-62 PHONE COMPANY 998 85-87 PHONE COMPANY 998 # #

[0076] 4. BTN Validation Response Record to a Credit Card AuthorizationResponse Record

[0077] At the conclusion of the Phone Number Validation Process, theresults must be sent back to the CM System so the results can bereturned to the purchaser and updated in the CM System. The BTNValidation response must be converted to a format that the CM caninterpret. The BTN Validation Response Record is translated to theCredit Card Authorization Response Record for this phase of thepurchase. Billing Telephone Number Validation Response Record99m9999991234562022269329180201N2Y5552269329YY Credit Card AuthorizationResponse Record 99m999999123456..........2022269329201N25552269329YYBilling Telephone Number Validation Record Credit Card AuthorizationRecord Positon Field Example Positon Field Example  1-15 Tracking ID99m99999912  1-15 Tracking ID 99m999999123456 3456 16-25 BTN 202226932916-35 CREDIT # 2022269329 26-28 BTN VAL 180 36-41 RESPONSE CODE 201N2RESPONSE CODE 28-32 CC RESPONSE 201N2 42-51 NEW PHONE # 5552269329 CODE35-35 AREA CODE Y 52-52 BUSINESS LINE Y CHANGE 36-45 NEW PHONE #5552269329 53-53 ACCT < 90 DAYS Y 46-46 BUSINESS LINE Y 47-47 ACCT < 90Y DAYS

[0078] Referring in particular to FIG. 14 of the drawings, at the end ofa bill cycle during which a plurality of transactions or billing eventsor transactions have been recorded by the CMS 58, the CMS 58communicates a billing transaction file in a credit card bill eventformat to the facility 28 (see step 140 in FIG. 14). Each event in thetransaction file includes an indicator to indicate that the event is aphone billing transaction for inclusion in the telephone account 34. Themodule 30 of the facility 28 then receives the billing request file asshown at step 142, whereafter the request file is parsed, as shown atstep 144, and the processor module 110 checks to see whether or not allthe required information is present in the file (see step 146). If not,a code is appended to the record as show at step 148. If all theinformation is present in the file, the process then proceeds to step150 where the credit card authorization to BTN validation steps 118-130,as described above, are executed. Once the validation procedure has beencompleted, the BTN billing response is formatted into a industrystandard credit card billing response with a response code appended tothe end of each record and, the records are then returned to the CMS 58(see step 152).

[0079] At the same time, transactions or billing events which have beenvalidated as billable and thus capable of being included in the relevanttelephone account 34, are translated into an electronic messageinterface (EMI) format appropriate for the Telco with which thetelephone account 34 is associated (see step 154). The EMI formattedfile is then transferred to the Telco for billing as shown in step 156whereafter the Telco call places each billing event on telephone account34 associated with the subscriber line 96. Typically, the Telco returnsany records that can not be billed to the telephone account 34 or thathave already been billed and credited, or written off because of nonpayment to the facility 28 as shown at step 160. The records received bythe facility 28 are in the EMI format and the facility 28 translates therecord to a credit card return record including a reason code appendedto the record, as shown at step 162, whereafter record is returned tothe CMS 58 at the vendor 22.

[0080] An example of the billing event record conversion in which acredit card billing request is translated into a BTN billing request isset out below.

[0081] 1. Credit Card Billing Request to a BTN Billing Request

[0082] Once the purchase event has been slotted for billing, it entersthe billing stream for that bill cycle. In certain embodiments, dailybill cycle records are sent to the appropriate processors. As describedabove, the transaction validation and processing module 30 may receivethe record in the same format required by a conventional credit cardprocessing facility.

[0083] In certain embodiments, the first step in the bill cycle is tore-validate the billable status of the BTN. This is done by followingthe same steps in the BTN Validation process set out above. The firststep is to convert the record to a BTN Validation event record. CreditCard Billing Request RecordS749499M4N0000107252E100BP2623775174 0000 0004500 ABPAT*MOOREH2624444444 A2888 NW 87^(th) REGENCY CIRCLE D2623775174 A3CEADARBURG, WI53012-0505 Billing Telephone Number Validation Request Record749499M4N0000107252E10020222693290004500888WI531020505B Credit CardAuthorization Record Billing Telephone Number Validation Record PositonField Example Positon Field Example 1-1 Bill Event S  1-15 Tracking ID749499M4N0000107252E 100 2-7 Merchant ID 749499 16-25 BTN 2623775174 8YEARS IN M (13^(th) 26-33 AMOUNT 0004500 BUSINESS year)  9-10 MONTH, 4N(April 34-43 ADDRESS1 888....... DAY 14^(th)) 11-20 ACCT # 0000107244-45 STATE WI 52 21-24 E100 46-50 ZIP 53102 25-25 RECORD B 51-54 ZIP +4 0505 TYPE 26-26 BILL TYPE P 55-55 RECORD TYPE B 27-46 BTN 26237751 7447-54 AMOUNT 00000450 0 1-2 ACCT INFO AB  3-32 NAME PAT MOORE 33-43 HOME# H2624444444 44-45 ADDRESS A2 INDICATOR 46-65 STREET 888 NW 87^(th)REGENCY CIRCLE 66-76 DAYTIME # D2623775174 77-78 ADDRESS3 A3  79-108CITY, CEADARBURG, WI STATE, ZIP 530120505

[0084] 2. Phone Bill Billing Record to Credit Card Billing ResponseRecord

[0085] At the conclusion of the revalidation during the billing process,a different response record may be written to a file. That record istypically in a format according to the Credit Card Billing Responseformat. Billing Telephone Number Billing Validation Response Record749499M4N0000107252E1002623775174180201N2N0000000000NN0004500B CreditCard Billing Response RecordS749499M4N0000107252E100BP2623775174201N2N0000000000NN BTN BillingValidation Response Record Credit Card Billing Response Record PositonField Example Positon Field Example  1-15 Tracking ID 749499M4N000010721-1 BILLING S 52E100 EVENT 16-25 BTN 2623775174  2-24 Tracking ID749499M4 N00001072 52E100 26-28 BTN VAL 180 25-34 BTN 262377517 RESPONSE4 CODE 29-33 CC RESPONE 201N2 35-39 RESPONSE CODE 201N2 CODE 34-34 AREACODE N 40-40 AREA CODE N CHANGE CHANGE 35-44 NEW PHONE # 000000000041-50 NEW # 000000000 0 45-45 BUSINESS LINE N 51-51 BIZ LINE N 46-46ACCT < 90 N 52-52 ACCT < 90 DAYS N DAYS 47-53 AMOUNT 0004500 54-54RECORD TYPE B

[0086] 3. BTN Billing Validation Record to a Phone Company DepositRecord

[0087] At the same time the Billing Response is returned, all accountsthat were validated as positive may be formatted into a record that isacceptable at the Telephone Company for processing. Billing TelephoneNumber Billing Validation Response Record749499M4N0000107252E1002623775174180201N2N0000000000NN0004500B PhoneCompany Deposit Record4250010114000000000074420000000000073640045000000000000000000000000000000000000000910200000000000000090300000002623775174000....000 BTN BillingValidation Response Record Phone Company Deposit Record Positon FieldExample Positon Field Example  1-15 Tracking 749499M4N000 1-6 RECORD425001 ID 0107252E100 TYPE 16-25 BTN 2623775174  7-11 DATE 101400 26-28BTN VAL RESPONSE 180 12-19 Zero fill 00000000 CODE 29-33 CC 201N2 20-23PROCESSOR 7442 RESPONSE # CODE 34-34 AREA CODE N 24-34 Zero fill00000000 CHANGE 0000 35-44 NEW PHONE 0000000000 35-38 SUBCIC # 7364 #45-45 BUSINESS N 39-44 AMT 004500 LINE 46-46 ACCT < 90 N 45-81 Zero fill000...00 DAYS 47-53 AMOUNT 0004500 82-85 OCN 9102 54-54 RECORD B  86-100Zero fill 00000000 TYPE 0000000 101-103 CIC # 903 104-112 Zero fill00..000 113-122 BTN 26237751 74 123-175 Zero fill 000...000

[0088] 4. Negative Billing Event Records to Credit Card Negative EventRecords

[0089] These BTN Billing Records are deposited at a Telephone Companyfor processing on to the bill page. If a charge is unable to be placedon the bill page, the event must be converted in to the Credit CardNegative Billing Event format for processing. In addition, any othernegative information, such as a credit of a charge or the write-off ofbad debt, must be converted to the appropriate Credit Card formats forprocessing by the CM. Thus, if inclusion into the telephone account 34fails for some reason, the transaction then gets charged to thefinancial instrument or credit card and an industry standard credit cardrecord is created by the module 30.

[0090] The CMS 58 typically knows how to handle the negative event bythe file name that contains the records and the response code within thereturned records. The file name and response codes are in the industrystandard credit card processing convention. Phone Company Return Record42500101140000000000744200000000000736400450000000000000000000000000000MO000000000910214100000000000090300000002623775174000....000 Credit CardNegative Event Record S749499M4N0000107252E1002623775174201091501 PhoneCompany Deposit Record Credit Card Chargeback Record Positon FieldExample Positon Field Example 1-6 RECORD 425001 1-1 BILLING S TYPE EVENT 7-11 DATE 101400  2-24 Tracking ID 749499M4N00001 07252E100 12-19 Zerofill 00000000 25-34 BTN 2623775174 20-23 PROCESSOR 7442 35-37 RESPONSE201 # CODE 24-34 Zero fill 000000000000 38-43 RETURN DATE 091501 35-38SUBCIC # 7364 39-44 AMT 004500 45-69 Zero fill 000...00 70-71 REASON MOCODE 72-81 Zero fill 000.000 82-85 OCN 9102 86-89 NEW OCN 1410  90-100Zero fill 000...000 101-103 CIC # 903 104-112 Zero fill 00..000 113-122BTN 2623775174 123-175 Zero fill 000...000

[0091] As mentioned above, the transaction validation and processingmodule 30 carries out a validation process on the telephone numberassociated with subscriber line 96 (see FIG. 15) and periodicallyprocesses transactions directly into subscriber telephone accounts 34.

[0092] Referring in particular to FIG. 15 of the drawings, referencenumeral 200 generally indicates a more detailed schematic block diagramof an embodiment of the module 30. In the module 200, the line numberextraction module 108 and the OBF exchange interface 112 are integratedinto the processor module 110 which is in the form of a server.

[0093] The module 200 includes an application program interface (API)214 which is connected to the vendor 22 or service provider (see alsoFIG. 5) of goods and/or services which require validation of asubscriber account. The vendor 22, which could for example be anInternet Service Provider, may request the validation of the subscriberline 96 prior to concluding an electronic transaction with a subscribervia the subscriber line 96. It is, however, to be appreciated that theAPI 214 may be connected to a variety of different hosts or clientswhich require validation of a subscriber line 96 via which the vendor 22may carry out transactions for goods and/or services.

[0094] The vendor 22 typically communicates a request to the module 200and forwards the subscriber line number, determined by the ANI service,to the module 200 via its API 214. The module 200 then processes theinformation received from the vendor 22 and provides a validationstatus, e.g. a code indicating a valid billable number or a codeindicating that the line number is not a valid billable number(unbillable or non-billable). In particular, a plurality of codesassociated with various statuses of the subscriber line 96 arecommunicated to the vendor 22 as described in more detail below.

[0095] The module 200 includes hardware and software to implement theinvention. In particular, the module 200 includes a comparator module218, a threshold database 220, an OFFNET database 222, an ONNET database224, a competitive local exchange carrier (CLEC) database 226, a 42BLOCK database 228, a block and cancel database 230, an unbilled and/orunpaid bills database 232, line identification database (LIDB) shortterm cache 234, a validity check module 236, a regional account office(RAO) database 238, an operating company number (OCN) database 240, anONNET database 242, an address verification database 244, customeraccount record exchange (CARE) results database 246, an ANI watchdatabase 248, and an NPA (Numbering Plan Area) exchange database 250. Itis to be appreciated that, in less sophisticated embodiments of theinvention, all of the above databases need not be included. However, forenhanced accuracy, all of the above databases are preferably included.Further databases may also be included further to increase thereliability of the validation process.

[0096] In addition to any one or more of the above databases, the module200 is in communication via a conventional communication channel with anoffsite or, in some embodiments, on-site line identification database(LIDB) host 252. The LIDB host 252 may include a line number portability(LNP) database. Typically, the LNP database may front end access to aplurality of industry standard LIDBs (e.g. 13 different LIDBs). The LNPdatabase may however be a separate database. As described in more detailbelow, the module 200 communicates the subscriber line number to theLIDB host 252 which, in turn, communicates reference subscriber data inthe form of industry standard LIDB codes back to the module 200 forprocessing. The module 200 then processes the LIDB codes to provide thevendor 22 with validation data relating to the subscriber line 96.Unlike conventional LIDB applications which use a LIDB to make decisionsregarding destination subscriber lines or call completion decisions,e.g. decisions for calling cards, collect and third party toll servicesor the like, the module 200 is used to identify telephone numbers oforiginating subscriber lines.

[0097] Broadly, the module 200 includes a communication module formed bythe application program interface (API) 214 which communicates with thecommunication module 64 (see FIG. 5) of the vendor 22, a processormodule 110 which includes the various databases 220 to 232 as well asthe comparator module 218 and the validity check module 236, and aninterrogation module 256 for interrogating the LIDB host 252. It is tobe appreciated that the modules may be defined by one or more serverswith associated databases. Further, in the example illustrated, the LIDBhost 252 is shown as a single database but may comprise many differentLIDB databases maintained by various LECs and, accordingly, may belocated at various different geographic locations.

[0098] Referring in particular to FIGS. 16 to 19 of the drawings,various sections of a flow chart describing the method of operation ofthe module 200 are shown. As described above, the vendor 22 initiates arequest to the module 200 to validate a transaction to be included inthe account 34 associated with the subscriber line 96. As shown at step260, the module 200 first checks to see if the BTN number is present inthe request from the vendor 22 and, if no number is present, a returncode 121 is generated and communicated to the vendor as shown at step262. The code 121 indicates to the vendor 22 that the module 200 isunable to process the request. If, however, the number is present in therequest from the vendor 22, the module 200 then checks if the linenumber captured (hereinafter also referred to as the ANI) by the ANImodule 60, and the BTN entered on the form 66 (see FIG. 8) match, asshown at step 264 (see also the comparator module 218 in FIG. 15). If,however, the ANI and the BTN do not match, then the processor module 110generates a code 120 (see step 66) to indicate that the caller and theowner of the line number are not the same person (e.g. the user entershis or her BTN in the form 66 and uses an electronic terminal connectedto a different subscriber line and is thus calling from a different ANI)and the relevant modified code is then returned to the vendor 22.

[0099] If the ANI and the BTN do match, the processor module 110interrogates the threshold database 220 (see step 268) to ascertainwhether or not the line number has reached its threshold (e.g., apredefined client threshold parameter such as an account threshold). Ifthe line number has reached its threshold, the processor module 110 thengenerates a code 60, as shown at step 270, which is then communicated tothe vendor 22 to indicate that the line number may not be grantedservice. In other words, the subscriber account cannot be billed for thegoods and/or services requested by the user from the vendor 22.

[0100] If the threshold has not been reached, the module 200 theninterrogates its OFFNET database 22 (see step 271) to check if theindustry standard NPA/NXX and operating company number (OCN) of thesubscriber line 96 is present in the OFFNET database 22. The OFFNETdatabase 22 includes NPA/NXX and OCN combinations of operating companieswith which the proprietor or user of the module 200 does not havebilling and collections agreements to bill into the Telco's bill pageassociated with the subscriber line 96. Accordingly, the facility 20 isunable to include a charge in the account associated with the subscriberline 96 on behalf of the vendor 22 for the transaction.

[0101] If the line number is in the OFFNET database 222, then theprocessor module 110 generates codes 130 to 133 (see step 272) andcommunicates these codes to the vendor 22. The codes 130 to 133 indicatethat the NPA/NXX and OCN for the particular line number 96 are notbillable and, accordingly, charges for goods and/or services requestedby the user cannot be included in the monthly telephone account 34 bythe module 200. As shown in Table 2 below, the codes 130 to 133 providean indication to the vendor 22 why the subscriber line 96 is notbillable or deliverable. If the subscriber line number is not includedin the OFFNET database 222, a check is conducted to see whether or notthe subscriber line number is included in the ONNET database 224. Thischeck is however optional in the embodiment depicted in the drawings,but may be mandatory if the module 200 does not include the OFFNETdatabase 222.

[0102] Thereafter, as shown in step 278, the processor module 110 checksto see if the line number is found in a known CLEC table in the CLECdatabase 226. CLEC numbers are those line numbers that are known to haveported to a CLEC and, accordingly, the proprietor of the module 200 isthus unable to route these line numbers to the correct billing entities.If the line number is found in the CLEC database 226, then the processormodule 110 generates a code 140 (see step 276) which is communicated tothe vendor 22. The code 140 indicates that the BTN provided by the useris not billable for the CLEC and the module 200 can thus not charge thetransaction to the subscriber account associated with the subscriberline 96.

[0103] If the line number is not found in the CLEC database 226, thenthe module 200 checks to see if the subscriber of the subscriber line 96has requested a 4250 billing block as shown at step 278. In particular,the processor module 110 interrogates the 42 BLOCK database 228 and, ifthe number is located in the database 228, which indicates that monthlyrecurring charges (4250) charges are prevented from being billed to thatline number, the processor module 110 generates a code 150 (see step280) which is communicated to the vendor 22 to indicate that billing tothe particular subscriber line 96 has been blocked.

[0104] If, however, the subscriber line 96 has not been blocked, themodule 200 then checks at step 282 if the line number is located in theblock and cancel database 230 and, if so, the processor module 110generates codes 160 and 161 which are then communicated to the vendor asshown at step 284. The block and cancel database 230 includes requestsfrom owners of subscriber lines, agencies, businesses, or the like thata service be canceled or blocked from further billing. Thereafter, themodule 200 interrogates the unbilled and/or unpaid bills database 232,as shown at step 286, to check if there is a history of any unpaid billsand/or unbillable bills associated with the subscriber line 96.Unbillable bills relate to those subscriber line numbers where previousattempts have been made to bill charges to the subscriber accountassociated with the line number, and which have been returned asunbillable. If the processor module 110 locates the line number in theunbillable and/or unpaid bills database 232 then, as shown at step 288,a code 170 is generated and communicated to the vendor 22 to indicatethat the line number was previously found to be unbillable and is stillconsidered to be unbillable.

[0105] The processing described above conducts a preliminaryinvestigation into the subscriber line number or ANI/BTN to provide aninitial indication of whether or not the ANI/BTN corresponds with abillable subscriber line. Once the initial investigation has beenconducted, the module 200 then uses the ANI to obtain referencesubscriber line data in the form of LIDB codes from one or more industrystandard databases in the form of the LIDB host or database 252.Examples of the LIDB codes used in the module 200 are shown in Table 3below.

[0106] As shown at step 290, if the ANI is not found in the LIDBdatabase 252, the module 200 cannot provide any validation data to thevendor 22 on this subscriber line and an appropriate code is thencommunicated to the vendor 22 as shown at block 292.

[0107] Once the LIDB database or host 252 has been interrogated, itreturns industry standard LIDB codes and line number portability (LNP)data to the module 200 as shown in step 294 (see FIG. 18). The LIDBcodes are then mapped or translated by the processor module 110 intomodified validation codes (see Table 3) which provide relevantvalidation information to the vendor 22. As can be seen from Table 3,the same modified validation code can be generated from a plurality ofdifferent LIDB codes. Once the LIDB information codes have been returnedto the processor module 110, the LIDB codes, including OCN and RAOresponse codes, are fed into the validity check module 236 (see FIG. 15)as shown at step 96.

[0108] As mentioned above, the LIDB host 252 may also provide LNP datato the module 200. The LNP data is used to identify subscriber linenumbers that have ported to a CLEC. If a subscriber line has been portedto a CLEC, the billing ONNET status of the CLEC is verified in the CLECdatabase 226. The LNP identifies the facilities based CLECs which areCLECs that have been assigned all the line numbers for an NPA/NXX in aspecific geographic territory. This type of CLEC would be in control ofthe cable, dial tone and billing envelope for that number. Typically,the LNP cannot be used to identify CLEC sellers which have resold thesubscriber line under their brand, but still lease the cable and tonefrom an incumbent local exchange carrier (ILEC). Accordingly thefacility 28 may be unable to process transaction data onto a bill pageor telephone account 34 of the CLEC reseller bill page. In order toidentify reseller CLECs, the module 200 compares RAO and OCNinformation, returned from the LIDB host 252, to data in the ONNETdatabase 224. The OCN is the local Telco that owns the subscriber linenumber and the RAO is the office of the Telco that is responsible from abilling standpoint for the subscriber line number.

[0109] If the validity check module 236 determines that the responsecodes are invalid, the module 200 generates modified codes 180 to 999(see step 298 and Table 2) which are communicated to the requester orvendor 22 to indicate that the mapping of the LIDB codes to the modifiedcodes concluded that the line is an unbillable subscriber line.

[0110] If the validity check module 236 confirms the validity of theLIDB codes and, in the event of the line number being a billable linenumber, the processor module 110 then checks the RAO database 238 toascertain whether or not the RAO is billable, as shown at step 300. Ifthe RAO is not billable, then the processor module 110 generates andcommunicates a return code 143 (see step 302) to indicate to the vendor22 that the line number belongs to a CLEC which is not billable by themodule 200.

[0111] In a similar fashion, at step 304 the processor module 110 checksto see if the OCN returned from the LIDB host 252 corresponds with aknown CLEC or if the OCN corresponds with an OFFNET OCN and is thereforealso unbillable. If the line number corresponds to an OCN that is notbillable, a return code 142 is generated by the processor module 110 andcommunicated to the vendor 22 (see step 306).

[0112] If the subscriber line number has passed the RAO and OCN checksand, accordingly, it appears that the number is billable, the processormodule 110 then checks to see if a new NPA /NXX and OCN combination forthis line number is guidable to the correct local Telco for billing (seestep 308). If the line number is not guidable, then the module 200generates a code 141 at step 310 which is communicated to the vendor 22to indicate that, even though the line number is billable, the facility28 is unable to guide the billing information to the new Telco forbilling. Accordingly, the telephone number is in fact non-billableinsofar as the facility 28 is concerned and a decline status istherefore communicated to the vendor 22.

[0113] The abovementioned steps are carried out to ascertain whether ornot the subscriber line 96 can be billed for the goods and/or servicesrequested. However, to enhance the accuracy or reliability of the module200, further checks or verification are conducted as described below.

[0114] In the event that the subscriber line number has passed orcomplied with the abovementioned checks, and has thus not yet beenrejected, the module 200 performs address verification procedures atstep 312. The module 200 then interrogates an address verificationdatabase 244 to compare the address or location data (e.g. a ZIP code)supplied by the user via the form 66 (see FIG. 8) with reference addressdata as shown at step 312. If, however, the address supplied by the userdoes not match with the address in the verification database 244 or, theaddresses are not within a predefined range or area, the processormodule 110, as shown at step 314, generates codes 10 to 39 which arethen communicated to the vendor 22 to indicate the level of likelihoodthat the caller (ANI) and the account owner are the same person.

[0115] During the address verification step 312, the module 200interrogates a customer account record exchange (CARE) database (whichcan be an on-site database which is regularly updated), to provideenhanced reliability. In particular, the CARE database or informationsite is typically one or more industry standard offsite databases whichallow consumers to select or change their long distance serviceprovider. Local Telcos forward specific customer information to the LECassociated with the subscriber. The information communicated typicallyincludes a new phone number, billing address, installation date, theperson or organization responsible for the account, or the like.

[0116] As shown at step 316, the module 200 interrogates the CAREdatabase or information site and CARE data is then loaded into CLEC andnew line databases to perform certain fraud and billing checks. The CAREinformation investigation occurs after a successful validation event.Once the module 200 has validated the subscriber line 96, the subscriberline number data is sent to a CARE database provider hosting the CAREdatabase 246 to obtain the BNA and age of the account. The informationis typically returned within 48 hours and then processed. Care recordsthat are returned without BNA and CLEC ACCOUNT codes are inserted intothe CLEC database 226 for future reference. Accordingly, if the BTN ispresented again at a later date, it will fail the CLEC check step (seestep 274 in FIG. 17).

[0117] The ANI watch database 248, which includes historical andadjusted information, is used by the module 200 to determine if theaccount has previously been adjusted (see step 316). Typically, thisstep includes ascertaining previous requests by the subscriber forcredit, obtaining data on any written off amounts for charges that werebilled to a bill page, or the like.

[0118] If adjustments have previously been made to the accountassociated with the subscriber line 96, the processor module 110generates codes 1 to 5 (see step 318) to indicate to the vendor 22 thatthe adjustments have been made. If no adjustments have been made, theprocessor module 110 checks to see whether or not the line number has abusiness line indicator as shown at step 320. If the business lineindicator is active, the module 200 generates a code 70 (see step 322)which is communicated to the vendor 22 to advise that the line is abusiness line. Thereafter, as shown in step 324, the processor module110 checks to see if the subscriber line number has been in service forless than about 90 days and, if so, a return code 80 (see step 326) isgenerated to advise the vendor 22 who may then selectively decidewhether or not to conclude the transaction. A database of new numbersmay be updated with the new number.

[0119] Thereafter, the module 200 interrogates the ANI watch database248 (see step 328) to ascertain whether or not the area code of the linenumber has been changed or is scheduled to change. This interrogation istypically for billing purposes only and is not used to decide upon thevalidity of the request. In this step, the vendor 22 requesting thevalidation typically updates the billing file with the new area codenumber, and the processor module 110 generates a code 110 (see step 330)to advise the vendor 22 of the scheduled change to the area code.

[0120] Once the line number has passed all the aforementioned checks,the module 200 then concludes that the subscriber line 96 obtained usingANI techniques is in fact a billable line and, accordingly, thetransaction may be charged directly to the account of the subscriber.Accordingly, the module 200 then generates a code 000 (see step 334)which is communicated to the vendor 22. The code 000 defines an approvedstatus following both a billable line number inquiry as well as severalfraud checks which are carried out by the fraud control module 332. Ifthe line number has passed the abovementioned checks and the return code000 is generated, the process terminates at block step 336. Thus, step336 defines the end of the process during which the various checks havebeen conducted on the subscriber line 96 to assess whether or not it isa billable subscriber line that charges may be billed to. Step 338defines the last step to which the process jumps when, at any pointduring the abovementioned process, the line number is found not to bebillable (e.g., a creditworthy decision was requested by the vendor 22)and the inquiry is accordingly terminated and the relevant code iscommunicated to the vendor 22.

[0121] The abovementioned steps are typically executed in real time.However, information sources that do not allow checks on the line numberin real time may be are carried out subsequently on the line number.Typically, once the real time evaluation is carried out and the returncode 000 is communicated to the vendor, and the vendor 22 decide toproceed with the transaction, transaction data is then periodicallyreturned to the module 200 by the vendor 22 for a pre-billing validationcheck or actual billing. During actual billing the module 200 accessesan account folder of the subscriber line at the Telco 26 and inserts thecharges due to the vendor 22 into the telephone account 34. As shown atstep 340, line numbers are sent to the CARE database 246 to determine ifthe BNA is available at the local Telco 26. If the folder or telephoneaccount 34 is not available, the local Telco 26 typically sends the BNAand codes as to why the number is unavailable to the facility 28. If theBNA is found in the CARE database 246, the processor module 110 thenchecks to see whether or not the account was created within the last 90days as shown at step 342. If the account was not created within thelast 90 days, then the business indicator is checked as shown at step344 and the process ends as previously shown at step 346. If, however,the number was found in the CARE database 246, the account was createdwithin the last 90 days, or has an active business indicator then themodule 200 generates the appropriate codes which are communicated tovendor 22 and the process terminates as shown at step 348.

[0122] The above process has been described in terms of modified codesset out in Table 2 but, it is to be appreciated, that the mapping ortranslation of the LIDB codes may produce any other defined set ofcorresponding codes so long as the codes are mapped onto, or generatedin response to, any one or more of the industry standard LIDB codes.

[0123] A summary of the codes generated by the module 200 duringexecution of the validation process is provided in Table 1 below. TABLE1 Modified codes generated during the BTN Validation Process. CodeGenerated and ref to flow charts Description of code Return Code 121Indicates inability to proceed with validation; returned to requestorSee step 264 Checks if ANI captured and BTN provided match (not requiredin all scenarios) Return Code 120 Indicates caller and # (line number)owner are not the same person; returned to requestor See step 268 Adefined Threshold limits the number of attempts on that # within acertain timeframe Return Code 60 Indicates # may not be granted service;returned to requestor. See step 271 Checks the NPA/NXX and OCN to thosein the OFFNET. OFFNET = NPA/NXX and OCN combinations where proprietor ofthe module 200 does not have a Billing and Collections agreement to billinto the Telco's' bill page. Return Code 130- Indicates that NPA/NXX &OCN for that Number are not 133 billable; returned to requestor See step274 Checks the line number to see if found in known CLEC table. Theseare numbers that are known to have ported to a CLEC. Proprietor isunable to route these # to the correct billing entities. Return code 140Indicates # not billable for CLEC; returned to requestor. See step 278Checks line # to see if owner has requested a 4250 Billing block. Thisblock prevents monthly recurring (4250) charges from being billed tothat line #. Return Code 150 Indicates that requested a block ofbilling; returned to requestor. See step 282 Checks line number forinclusion in the Block and Cancel database. This database includesrequests from line # owners, agencies, businesses etc that haverequested that service be cancelled and or blocked from further billing.Return Code 160- Indicates number found in Block and Cancel and is not161 billable; returned to requestor. See step 286 Checks line # forunbillable history. Unbillables are #s where tried to bill chargespreviously and have been returned as unbillable. Return Code 960Indicates # has unbilled before and is still considered unbillable;returned to requestor. See step 290 If # not found in Unbillable, thenrouted to LIDB for info. ITEM Description See step 294 Identifies inforeturned from LIDB re. that line #; Response Code = status about that #as a call termination point. OCN = Operating Company # = the local Telcothat owns that #. RAO = Regional Accounting Office = the office of theTelco that is responsible from a $ flow standpoint for that #. See step296 Checks the validity of the LIDB code returned for the number as aBillable #. This is where the mapping of the LIDB codes to theproprietor validation codes happens. Return Code 180-999 Indicates themappings of the LIDB codes to the proprietor Val reply codes. Each ofthese indicate a non-billable #; returned to requestor. See step 300Checks if RAO returned is an RAO that is not billable. Return CodeIndicates that the # belongs to a CLEC and is unbillable; 143 returnedto requestor. See step 304 Checks if OCN returned from LIDB is a knownCLEC or OFFNET OCN and therefore unbillable. Return code Indicates thatthe new OCN is not billable; returned to 142 requestor. See step 308Checks to see if new NPA/NXX & OCN combination for # is guidable to thecorrect local Telco for billing. Return code Indicates that even thoughthe # is billable, eBillit is unable to 141 guide to the new Telco forbilling; unguidable = unbillable; # returned to requestor. The steps toindicate if # is billable have been completed. The next steps provideadditional information about the # for the requestor e.g. to decide ifand how much credit to extend for services. They also provide additionalbilling information. See step 312 Provides address verification (ifrequired). Matches # to address to determine likelihood of persondialing to the person that owns the acct at local Telco. Return CodeIndicates the level likelihood that the caller (ANI) and acct 10-39owner are the same. Returned to requestor. See step 316 Checks to see if# has had adjustment activity previously. This includes request forcredit, written off for charges that billed to a bill page. Requestormakes credit decision based on #s history of credits, adjustments, writeoffs. Return Code Indicates the type and source of adjustment to chargesto that 1-5 #. Returned to requestor. See step 320 Checks to see if the# has a business line indicator. Requestor decides if would like toextend service or not. Return Code Indicates that the # is identified asa business. 70 See step 324 Checks to see if the # has been in serviceless than 90 days. Requestor makes a decision about how much service tooffer # without much payment history. Return Code Indicates that the #has been in service less than 90 days. 80 See step 328 Checks if theArea Code of the # has been scheduled to change. This is for billinginformation purposes only. Requestor updates billing filed with newnumber. Return Code Indicates Area Code has been scheduled to change.New 110 number is appended to end of record. See step 334 If the numberpasses all the previous checks, then 000 code is returned to requestor.The Validation is complete for this request. See step 338 End ofvalidation for numbers that did no pass or were found in other checks.END OF REAL TIME VALIDATION EVENT Information sources that do not allowchecks on the # in Real-time (r-t), happen on # that was returned as 000after the r-t validation event has completed. The #s are loaded into theappropriate databases. This information will be provided once the # isreturned for billing. Steps 340, 342, 344 Indicates path for those #sreturned with a 000 code. See step 340 #s are sent to CARE source todetermine if BNA (billing Name and Address) available at local Telco.Telco sends BNA and codes as to why unavailable. CLEC #s that arereturned with codes that indicate the # has moved to a CLEC from thelocal Telco are loaded into the CLEC table. See step 342 #s are sent tothe CARE source to determine if the account has been crested within thelast 90 days. The response codes indicate this condition. New within 90#s that are returned with codes that indicate this condition are loadedinto the NEW table. See step 344 #s are sent to a Business source. Thissource identifies which numbers belong to businesses. Biz table Numbersthat are indicated as being line #s that belong to businesses are loadedin this table.

[0124] Table 2 below provides the various actions which are executed inresponse to a modified validity code. The table provides a descriptionand explanation of each code. Return codes 001 to 969 relate to failurecodes which are generated by the module 200 prior to investigation ofthe LIDB host 252. Return codes 180 to 451 are generated during the LIDBcode checks. In the event of the subscriber line 96 failing the checkscarried out on it, the module 200 provides optional use of a credit cardand, accordingly, Table 2 sets out codes which the module 200 generatesin response to executing a standard credit card enquiry for a particulartransaction. If the module 200, which is typically defined by a serverand associated databases, is down, codes 994 to 999 are generated andcommunicated to the vendor. TABLE 2 Validation & BNA Reply Codes CodeAction Description Explanation BILLABLE CODES 000 Approved Billable; wasnot found during Passed all billing and fraud control checks fraudcontrol checks FRAUD CONTROL CODES ANI WATCH (adjustments to bill) 001Verify Billable; found in ANI WATCH - Passed all billable checks; butANI had CLIENT source all been adjusted previously at vendor's, Client'sor telco's request for your Client # 002 Verify Billable; ANI WATCH -CLIENT Passed all billable checks; but ANI had source Client beenadjusted previously at Client's request for your Client # 003 VerifyBillable; ANI WATCH - CLIENT Passed all billable checks; but ANI hadsource Telco or Vendor been adjusted previously at vendor's or telco'srequest for your Client # 004 Verify Billable; found in ANI WATCH -Passed all billable checks; ANI had been GLOBAL adjusted previously atvendor's, Client's or telco's request for all Client ids 005 VerifyBillable; found in ANI WATCH - Passed all billable checks; ANI had beenPRODUCT adjusted previously at vendor's, Client's or telco's request forsame product type ZIP VERIFICATION 010 Verify Billable; Unable to matchZIP Passed all billable checks; unable to find invalid this Zip code forthis NPA/NXX - 011 Verify Billable; ZIP does not match Passed allbillable checks; Zip code does not match this NPA/NXX 012 VerifyBillable; ZIP matches to same Passed all billable checks; Zip codeMetropolitan area matches to same Metropolitan area as NPA NXX. ADDRESSVERIFICATION Note: The result of an AVS check does not mean that thetransaction is declined. This information is advice only. The systemcompares the AVS data with billing information for the buyer and passesthe results of the comparison to the merchant. 020 Verify Billable; BNAmatch not found Passed all billable checks; no BNA match found for ANI021 Verify Billable; Unable to verify BNA Passed all billable checks;unable to verify invalid BNA to ANI info sent 022 Verify Billable; withzip-Match, plus4- Passed all billable checks; BNA Zip code + Match,locale-Match 4 & locale (street address) matches info sent for ANI, Namedoes not match 023 Verify Billable; with zip-Match, plus4- Passed allbillable checks; BNA Zip code + Match, NoMatch-locale. 4 matches infosent for ANI but locale (street address) does not match 024 VerifyBillable; zip-Match, NoMatch- Passed all billable checks; BNA Zip code &plus4, locale-Match. locale (street address) matches info sent for ANIbut + 4 does not match 025 Verify Billable; zip-Match, NoMatch- Passedall billable checks; BNA Zip code plus4, NoMatch-locale. matches infosent for ANI but locale (street address) & + 4 does not match 026 VerifyBillable; NoMatch-zip, plus4- Passed all billable checks; BNA +4 andMatch, locale-Match. locale (street address) matches info sent for ANIbut Zip does not match 027 Verify Billable; NoMatch-zip, plus4- Passedall billable checks; BNA +4 Match, NoMatch-locale. matches info sent forANI but locale (street address) and Zip does not match 028 VerifyBillable; NoMatch-zip, NoMatch- Passed all billable checks; BNA localeplus4, locale-Match. (street address) matches info sent for ANI but ZIPand +4 does not match 029 Verify Billable; NoMatch-zip, NoMatch- Passedall billable checks; BNA does not plus4, NoMatch-locale. match zip, + 4or locale (street address) sent for ANI 030 Good Address & Zip Match 031Verify Address Match, Zip No Match 032 Verify Address Match, Zip ServiceUnavailable 033 Verify Address No Match, Zip Match 034 Verify Address NoMatch, Zip No Match 035 Verify Address No Match, Zip Service Unavailable036 Verify Address Service Unavailable, Zip Match 037 Verify AddressService Unavailable, Zip No Match 038 Verify Address ServiceUnavailable, Zip Service Unavailable AREA CODE CHANGE INDICATOR 110Update Indicates there has been an area Code is sent in addition to thevalidation code change for this NPA/NXX response codes. New phone numberis appended to record. Provided to update the account with the correctBTN. MISC 120 Verify BTN and AMI do not match For use where BTN and ANIare passed and do not match. 121 Verify BTN or ANI are missing from Foruse where BTN and ANI is missing record from record UNBILLABLE CODESOFFNET 130 Unbillable NPA/NXX found in OFFNET - Area code/exchange(NPA/Nxx) GLOBAL combination resides in OFFNET DB. OFFNET is a territorywhere the LEC (Local Exchange Carrier) is unable to provide 3rd partypresentation in to it's envelope. 131 Unbillable NPA/NXX found inOFFNET - Area code/exchange (NPA/Nxx) CLIENT SPECIFIC combinationresides in OFFNET DB specific for this Client id. 132 Unbillable NPA/NXXfound in OFFNET - Area code/exchange (NPA/Nxx) PRODUCT combinationresides in OFFNET DB specific for this product type. 133 UnbillableNPA/NXX NOT VALID Area code/exchange is not a valid area code exchangeCLEC (CLECs are unable to provide 3rd party bill presentation in theirenvelopes.) 140 Unbillable Line number (NPA/Nxx-xxxx) in BTN has beenported to a CLEC CLEC Territory (competitive local exchange carrier).141 Unbillable NPA/Nxx not ON NET BTN has been ported to a CLEC(competitive local exchange carrier) and is not billable. 142 UnbillableLine number OCN in CLEC OCN Operating Company number for this BTN tablewas found on CLEC OCN table. The number is not billable. 143 UnbillableLine number RAO in CLEC RAO Regional Accounting Office number for thistable BTN was found on CLEC RAO table. This BTN is not billable. 42BLOCK (4250s Only) 150 Unbillable Line Number has a block for 4250Consumer has requested a block for all records MRCs (monthly recurringcharges) from being billed to this phone number. BLOCK & CANCEL 160Unbillable GLOBAL — Line number has been Consumer requested block tostop all blocked to stop all charges. charges from being billed to thisnumber. 161 Unbillable CLIENT — Line number has a Consumer requested ablock to stop block to stop all charges from this charges from beingbilled or to cancel Client id. service for this phone number from thisClient id. UNBILLS 960 Unbillable Line number is Unbillable. Line numberhas been returned from the Local Telephone companies within th last 6months as unable to be billed. LIDB FAILURE 180 Unbillable Line numberfailed LIDB check - Line Number has been returned from LIDB GENERAL asunbillable. 181 Unbillable Vacant NPA NXX No working line #s in NPA NXX182 Unbillable No Incoming Calls Line # cannot accept incoming calls 183Unbillable Denied ANI Auto decline of all attempts from this ANI 184Unbillable Calling Card block Auto decline of Calling Card number 185Unbillable Collect Call Block Auto decline of Collect calls to thisnumber 186 Unbillable Third Party Call Block Auto decline all ThirdParty billed calls to this number 187 Unbillable Credit Card Block Autodecline of charges billed to Credit Card 188 Unbillable Group NumberBlock Auto decline of attempts from this group. 189 Unbillable AudiotextBock Number does not allow audiotext calls. 190 Unbillable ExcessiveCalling Card PIN hits Threshold for calling card attempts has beenexceeded. 191 Unbillable Line Number Block Auto decline of all chargesto this number 200 Unbillable Excessive Use - BTN BTN has exceededthreshold 201 Unbillable Excessive Use DN DN has exceeded threshold 202Unbillable Excessive Use - ANI ANI has exceeded threshold 203 UnbillableExcessive USE - Calling Card Pin Calling Card Pin has exceeded threshold220 Unbillable Feature Group A Local telephone switch is Feature Group A221 Unbillable PBX line Line # is a PBX line 222 Unbillable WATS lineLine # is a WATS line 223 Unbillable Hotel/Motel Auto Quote w/ taxHotel/Motel Auto Quote w/ tax 224 Unbillable Hotel/Motel Auto quote w/otax Hotel/Motel Auto quote w/o tax 225 Unbillable Dormitory line Line #belongs to a dorm 226 Unbillable Hospital line Line number belongs to ahospital 227 Unbillable Centrex line Line number belongs to CENTREX 228Unbillable Alternate Service Provider Line # belongs to an alternateservice provider 229 Unbillable POTS line (collect or third party Line #is plain old telephone service lines calls) for business or residential230 Unbillable Pager # Line number belongs to pager 231 UnbillablePCS/Mobile/Cellular # Line number belongs to a wireless provider 240Unbillable Line was disconnected w/o Line # was disconnected w/o areferral referral number 241 Unbillable Line Number changing Line is notconnected yet. 242 Unbillable not used 243 Unbillable DISCO w/o referralLine number has been removed from service w/o referral 244 UnbillableTemp DISCO Line number has been removed from service temporarily 245Unbillable DISCO with referral Line number has been disconnected w/referral or Operator takes calls 246 Unbillable Temp DISCO w/ referralLine number has been removed from service temporarily w/ referral 250Unbillable POTS line rating on rate plan POTS line is on a rate plan forbusiness or residential message rate 1 or 2 or flat rate 300 UnbillablePublic - Incompatible interface Public phone with incompatible interface301 Unbillable LEC Public Standard PreP OT LEC Public phone standardinterface; prepay overtime 302 Unbillable LEC Public Alternate LECPublic phone alternate interface; functions controlled by set 303Unbillable LEC Public Standard PP OT LEC Public phone standardinterface; postpay overtime 304 Unbillable IC Public IC Public Phone -Alternate Interface 305 Unbillable IC Public Standard IC Public Phone -Standard Interface 306 Unbillable LEC Public Special - PP OT LEC PublicPhone - Special billing post paid OT 307 Unbillable LEC Public Special -PreP OT LEC Public Phone - Special Billing; Pre pay OT 308 UnbillableLEC Semi Public LEC Semi Public Phone 309 Unbillable LEC Semi PublicPhone (no LEC Semi Public Phone does not allow collect or 3rd Partycalls) collect or 3rd party calls to this number 310 Unbillable LECPrepaid Card LEC Prepaid Card Telecommunications station 311 UnbillableIPP (fka COCOT) Standard Payphone Standard interface 312 Unbillable IPP(fka COCOT) Alternate Payphone - Alternate interface 313 UnbillableCoinless (non IPP fka COCOT) Coinless Pay phone 314 Unbillable Coinless(IPP fka COCOT) Coinless payphone 315 Unbillable Prison (non IPP fkaCOCOT) Prison payphone 316 Unbillable Prison (IPP fka COCOT) PrisonPayphone 450 Unbillable BNS: Voice Quote - without tax Charge quoteswithout tax 451 Unbillable BNS: Voice Quote - with tax Charge quoteswith tax CREDIT CARD RESPONSE CODES 000 Approved Credit card approved501 Decline/Error User authentication Failed 502 Decline/Error Invalidtender Your merchant bank account does not support the following creditcard type that was submitted 503 Decline/Error Invalid transaction typeTransaction type is not appropriate for this trans-action. For example,you cannot credit an authorization-only transaction. 504 Decline/ErrorInvalid amount 505 Decline/Error Invalid merchant information Processordoes not recognize your merchant account information. Contact your bankaccount acquirer to resolve this problem. 512 Decline/Error DeclinedPlease check the credit card number and transaction information to makesure they were entered correctly. If this does not resolve the problem,have the customer call the credit card issuer to resolve. 513Decline/Error Referral Transaction was declined but could be approvedwith a verbal authorization from the bank that issued the card. Submit amanual Voice Authorization transaction and enter the verbal auth code519 Decline/Error Original transaction ID not found The transaction IDyou entered for this transaction is not valid. 520 Decline/Error Cannotfind the customer reference number 522 Decline/Error Invalid ABA number523 Decline/Error Invalid account number Please check credit card numberand re- submit. 530 Decline/Error Account Lookup information Accountprovided found in system, Mismatch however, unique key provided does notmatch unique key in system. 531 Decline/Error Account does not existAccount provided not found in system 1102 Decline/Error Invalidexpiration date Please check and re-submit 525 Decline/Error Transactiontype not mapped to this host 526 Decline/Error Invalid vendor account527 Decline/Error Insufficient partner permissions 528 Decline/ErrorInsufficient user permissions 550 Decline/Error Insufficient fundsavailable 551 Decline/Error Invalid transaction returned from host 552Decline/Error Processor not available 553 Decline/Error Credit errorPlease make sure you have not already credited this transaction, or thatthis transaction ID is for a creditable transaction. (For example, youcannot credit an authorization.) 5110 Decline/Error Void error Pleasemake sure the transaction ID entered has not already been voided. Ifnot, then look at the Transaction Detail screen for this transaction tosee if it has settled. (The Batch field will be set to a number greaterthan zero if the transaction has been settled). If the transaction hasalready settled, your only recourse is a reversal (credit a payment orsubmit a payment for a credit). 555 Decline/Error Capture error Onlyauthorization transactions can be captured 556 Decline/Error Failed AVScheck Address and Zip code do not match 557 Decline/Error Cannot exceedsales cap For ACH transactions only 558 Decline/Error CVV2 Mismatch 800Unbillable LNP Only Look-Up, number was LNP Only Look-Up, number wasfound in the found LNP GTT database as ported. 801 Unbillable LNP OnlyLook-Up, number was not LNP Only Look-Up, number was not found in foundthe LNP GTT database, not ported. 802 Unbillable LNP Only Look-Up, theNPANXX is LNP Only Look-Up, the NPANXX is not a not a portable range.portable range. SYSTEM DOWN 994 Resubmit Message Format Error Messagereceived in invalid or unrecognized format. 995 Resubmit Time outSession timed out. 996 Resubmit Connection Failure Unable to connect.997 Resubmit Subsystem Failure Subsystem, such as LIDB, Credit Card,etc, not available. 998 Resubmit Network Failure Network Not Available999 Resubmit System Down System Unavailable

[0125] As mentioned above, the module 200 translates the LIDB codes intomodified verification codes as shown in Table 2. These modified validitycodes are then mapped or translated. Table 3 below provides a list ofthe modified validity codes which are generated following the mappingcarried out by the processor module 110 to translate LIDB codes to themodified verification codes set out in Table 1. TABLE 3 LIDB/LNP SOURCETRANSLATIONS for ISP: LIDB Resp. Resp. ADMIN rtfc Type In Code In ACTION? Description type EBI Code Out APP 000 Approved Calling card has anUnrestricted PIN. G1 000 APP 001 Approved Calling card has a RestrictedPIN. The switch must g1 000 verify that the DNI matches the first 10digits of the calling card before placing the call. APP 004 ApprovedCollect call - No verification is required. G1 000 APP 005 ApprovedThird-party call - No verification is required. G1 000 APP 006 ApprovedThere is a system error. S 999 APP 008 Approved Communications LinkTests “Good.” S 999 APP 010 Approved Commercial credit card is approvedand the zip code G1 000 matches, if the zip code was sent. APP 011Approved Y Bill-to number has an Admin. Override to automatically G1 000approve the transaction. (Admin. Reply) APP 012 Approved Originatingnumber (ANI) has an Admin. Override to G1 000 automatically approve thetransaction. (Admin. Reply) APP 013 Approved Dialed number (DNI) has anAdmn Override to G1 000 automatically approve the transaction. (Admin.Reply) APP 014 Approved Group number has an Admin. Override toautomatically G1 000 approve the transaction. (Admin. Reply) APP 015Approved Commercial credit card is approved but the zip code CC 500check is unavailable. APP 016 Approved Commercial credit card isapproved but the zip code CC 501 check is unavailable. Retry later. APP096 Approved Commercial credit card is approved but the zip code CC 502check is not supported. APP 018 Approved Commercial credit card isapproved and the address CC 503 matches but the zip code does not match.APP 019 Approved Commercial credit card is approved and the address CC504 and the zip code match. APP 020 Success LNP Only Look-Up, number wasfound in the LNP GTT LNP 800 database as ported. APP 021 Success LNPOnly Look-Up, number was not found in the LNP LNP 801 GTT database, notported. CON 050 Verify Collect call number has no block. Verifyacceptance of o1 000 the charge. CON 051 Verify Third-party call numberhas no block. Verify O1 000 acceptance of the charge. CON 053 DeniedUnable to authorize, Automatic Code Gapping is in S 999 effect at theLIDB. Every third query is dropped by the LIDB. CON 0110 Denied YExcessive Use - The bill-to number exceeded the high G3 000 limitthreshold in the Admin. fraud control system. (Admin. Reply) CON 055Denied Y Excessive Bad PIN Attempts - The threshold for bad PIN O2 000attempts for the calling card was exceeded in the Admin. fraud controlsystem. (Admin. Reply) This is the same as reply code 309. CON 060Conditional Y Low Limit Warning - The bill-to number exceeded the G3 000low limit threshold in the Admin. Fraud control system. (Admin. Reply)CON 061 Conditional Y Low Limit Warning - The dialed number exceeded theG3 000 low limit threshold in the Admin. fraud control system. (Admin.Reply) CON 062 Denied Y Excessive Use Dialed - The dialed numberexceeded G3 000 the high limit threshold in the Admin. fraud controlsystem. (Admin. Reply) CON 063 Conditional Y No Host Still Billable -There is no LIDB check available, G2 180 but the Customer has a billingagreement with this LEC. (Admin. Reply) CON 064 Approved Y Commercialcredit card is approved but the zip code CC 505 and the address do notmatch. CON 065 Conditional Y Low Limit Warning - The ANI exceeded thelow limit G3 000 threshold in the Admin. fraud control system. (Admin.Reply) CON 066 Denied Y Excessive Use ANI - The ANI exceeded the high G3000 threshold in the Admin. fraud control system. (Admin. Reply) CON 070Approved Calling card has no service denial in the Card Service G1 000Denial Indicator field. Calling card calls may be billed to this cardnumber. CON 071 Approved Calling card has no service denial in the PinService G1 000 Denial Indicator field. Calling card calls may be billedto this card number. CON 080 Verify Collect calls - Accept intralata,Reject interlata collect O1 000 calls. Recommend verify acceptance ofthe charge. CON 081 Verify Third-party calls - Accept intralata, rejectinterlata third- O1 000 party calls. Recommend verify acceptance of thecharge. CON 082 Verify Collect calls - Accept intralata, verifyinterlata collect O1 000 calls. Recommend verify acceptance of thecharge. CON 083 Verify Third-party calls - Verify intralata, rejectinterlata third- O1 000 party calls. Recommend Verify acceptance of thecharge. CON 084 Verify Collect call - Verify acceptance of the charge byan O1 000 Operator. CON 085 Verify Third-party call - Verify acceptanceof the charge by an O1 000 Operator. CON 086 Verify Collect call -Accept intralata charge, verify interlata O1 000 charge with Operator.CON 087 Verify Third-party calls - Verify intralata charge withoperator, O1 000 reject interlata charge with Operator. CON 088 VerifyCollect Calls: POTS Line (Business/Residential) G5 000 CON 089 VerifyThird-Party Calls: POTS Line (Business/Residential) G5 000 CON 090Verify BNS: Centrex Line, Collect calls - Some LECs allow G4 000 billingto this type of line, others do not. Verify Acceptance. CON 091 VerifyBNS: POTS Line - Residential - Message rate 1 G9 000 CON 092 Verify BNS:POTS Line - Residential - Message rate 2 G9 000 CON 093 Verify BNS: POTSLine - Business - flat rate G9 000 CON 094 Verify BNS: POTs Line -Business - message rate 1 G9 000 CON 095 Verify BNS: POTS Line -Business - message rate 2 G9 000 CON 096 Verify BNS: POTS Line -Residential - flat rate G9 000 DENY 100 Denied Message Format ErrorMessage S 994 DENY 100 Denied Message Format Error - Date format S 994DENY 100 Denied Message Format Error - Header Message Error S 994 DENY100 Denied Message Format Error - Merchant ID Error S 994 DENY 100Denied Message Format Error - No End of Header Indicator S 994 DENY 100Denied Message Format Error - Header Data Indicator, did not S 994contain data in each field of the message That was represented by themessage text map field DENY 100 Denied Message Format Error - PIN notnumeric S 994 DENY 100 Denied Message Format Error - Terminating Error(commercial S 994 credit card only DENY 100 Denied Message FormatError - Terminating Number not S 994 numeric DENY 100 Denied MessageFormat Error - Originating Number not Numeric S 994 DENY 100 DeniedMessage Format Error - Charge Number not Numeric S 994 DENY 100 DeniedMessage Format Error - No End Header Indicator S 994 DENY 101 DeniedMessage Format Error Invalid Customer/Terminal ID S 994 Number DENY 102Denied Message Format Error Invalid Message Type S 994 DENY 103 DeniedMessage Format Error Invalid Transaction Type S 994 DENY 104 DeniedMessage Format Error Invalid Sequence Number S 994 DENY 105 DeniedMessage Format Error Invalid Data Indicator S 994 DENY 105 DeniedMessage Format Error - Header Data Indicator S 994 DENY 107 Denied BadPIN format. PINs must be equal to or higher than S 994 2000. DENY 200Denied Calling card blocked, missing customer record - There S 994 is norecord of that calling card number in the database. DENY 201 Denied BNS,missing customer record - There is no record of S 994 that line numberin the database. DENY 202 Denied Missing BNG - There is no record ofthat NPANXX in S 994 the database. DENY 203 Denied Non billable NXX -DPC table failure. The NPANXX G2 180 does not have routing or allowbilling, e.g. cellular. (LIDB or Admin. Reply) DENY 204 Denied Callingcard blocked, screened data - A screening O2 000 mechanism is in placeat the LIDB that does not allow charges to this calling card. DENY 205Denied Protocol converter problem - There is a problem with S 999 theSS7 protocol converter. DENY 206 Denied BNS & No Calling Card Calls - NoHost, o2 180 Nonparticipating Group. This NPANXX exists but there is noLIDB host. (LIDB or Admin. Reply) DENY 207 Denied LIDB Access Deniedbecause no queries should be S 999 sent to this LIDB destination.(Admin. Reply) DENY 208 Denied Calling card blocked, Screened Data onPIN (Pin O2 000 Service Denial Indicator) - A screening mechanism is inplace at the LIDB that does not allow charges to this PIN. DENY 209Denied External SS7 Problem - There is a format problem in S 999 the SS7network DENY 210 Denied Calling card blocked, screened data - Ascreening O2 000 mechanism is in place at the LIDB that does not allowcharges to this calling card. DENY 211 Denied Calling card is blockedbecause it has a bad PIN or the O2 000 PIN does not match databaseinformation. DENY 211 Denied Unexpected Data Value, Calling cardblocked, Bad PIN - O2 000 This means a bad PIN was used or there is noPIN on file. DENY 212 Denied Calling card blocked, PIN Excessive Use atLIDB G3 000 Owner. - The PIN exceeded the high threshold in the LIDBfraud control system DENY 213 Denied Vacant BNG - There are no workinglines in the G2 181 NPANXX. DENY 214 Denied No Collect calls - Collectcalls are not allowed to this O2 000 line number. DENY 215 Denied NoThird-party calls - Third-party calls are not allowed O2 000 to thisline number DENY 216 Denied BNS: LEC Public - Standard Interface(functions G10 303 controlled by the network) - Postpay Overtime DENY296 Denied BNS: Coinless (non IPP fka COCOT) G10 313 DENY 218 DeniedBNS: semi-public phone - No Collect or Third-party calls G10 309 areallowed to this line number. DENY 219 Denied Spare - This LIDB responseis not in use at this time. AV 180 DENY 220 Denied Time-out, No responsefrom Host - A response was not S 180 received from the host databasewithin 4 seconds for a Telco query or 12 seconds for a Bank card query.(LIDB or Admin. Reply) DENY 221 Denied BNS Data unavailable, ErrorMessage, No Host - No S 180 collect or third-party calls should beallowed to this line number. DENY 222 Denied Calling card Dataunavailable, Error Message, No Host - S 180 No calling card calls shouldbe allowed to this line number. DENY 223 Denied BNS & Calling card,screened response LIDB - A O2 000 screening mechanism is in place at theLIDB that does not allow charges to this account number. DENY 224 DeniedLIDB Misroute - The query was routed to the wrong S 999 LIDB. DENY 225Denied Reject, Reroute - The LIDB could not read the format of S 994 thequery. DENY 226 Denied Unexpected Component - The LIDB cannot interpretthe S 994 format of the query. DENY 227 Denied UDTS, SS7 Networkproblem - There is an SS7 S 999 network problem. DENY 228 Denied BNS:Personal Communication Service (PCS) G8 231 DENY 229 Denied BNS: MobileG8 231 DENY 230 Denied Not Billable - The Customer does not have abilling G2 180 arrangement with the LEC for this NPANXX (OCN On- NetScreening). DENY 231 Denied BNS: LEC Prepaid Telecommunications CardStation G10 310 DENY 232 Denied Feature Group A (FGA) G4 000 DENY 233Denied BNS: LEC Public - Alternate Interface (functions G10 302controlled by set) DENY 234 Denied BNS: LEC Public - Special Billing -Postpay Overtime G10 306 (functions controlled by the network) DENY 235Denied BNS: LEC Public - Special Billing - Prepay Overtime G10 307(functions controlled by the network) DENY 236 Denied BNS: Public -Incompatible Network Interface (interface G10 300 other than standard oralternate) DENY 237 Denied BNS: IC Public - Alternate Interface G10 304DENY 238 Denied BNS: IPP (fka COCOT) - Standard Interface 311 DENY 239Denied BNS: Pager G8 230 DENY 241 Denied General, Reject - The LIDBcould not read the format of S 994 the query. DENY 242 Denied Invoke,Reject - The LIDB could not read the format of S 994 the query. DENY 243Denied Return Result, Reject - The LIDB could not read the S 994 formatof the query. DENY 244 Denied Return Error, Reject - The LIDB could notread the S 994 format of the query. DENY 245 Denied Transaction Portion,Reject - The LIDB could not read S 994 the format of the query. DENY 246Denied BNS: Vacant Number - There is no line number G2 180 assigned.DENY 247 Denied BNS: Disconnected without referral - The line number G6240 was disconnected with no referral to a new line number. DENY 248Denied BNS: Changed to non-published number - The line o5 000 number waschanged to a non-published number. DENY 250 Denied No Collect Calls,Screened Data - A screening O2 000 mechanism is in place at the LIDBthat does not allow charges to this line number. DENY 251 Denied NoThird-party calls, Screened Data - A screening O2 000 mechanism is inplace at the LIDB that does not allow charges to this line number. DENY252 Denied BNS: Screened Data - A screening mechanism is in G7 191 placeat the LIDB that does not allow charges to this line number. DENY 253Denied BNS: Screened Data - A screening mechanism is in G7 191 place atthe LIDB that does not allow charges to this line number. DENY 2110Denied BNS & No Calling Card, Unavailable network resource - O2 411 Thisline or card number is not in the database. DENY 255 Denied BNS:Screened Data - A screening mechanism is in G7 191 place at the LIDBthat does not allow charges to this line number. DENY 256 Denied BNS:Being changed - The line number is being G6 241 changed, it may not yetbe connected. DENY 257 Denied BNS: May not yet be connected - The linenumber may G6 243 be new, it may not yet be connected. DENY 258 DeniedBNS: Temporarily disconnected - The line number is G6 244 temporarilydisconnected. DENY 259 Denied BNS: Disconnected, calls being taken byoperator - The G6 245 iine number is temporarily disconnected, theoperator is taking calls. DENY 260 Denied BNS: Temporarily removed fromservice - The line G6 244 number is temporally removed from service.DENY 261 Denied BNS: Not in service for incoming calls - This line G2182 number cannot accept incoming calls. DENY 262 Denied BNS:Temporarily disconnected at customer request G6 245 without referral -The line number is temporarily disconnected at the request of thecustomer without referral. DENY 263 Denied BNS: Temporarily disconnectedat customer request G6 246 with referral - The line number istemporarily disconnected at the request of the customer with referral.DENY 264 Denied BNS: Changed with referral to new number - The line o5000 number was changed. A referral to another line number is in place.DENY 265 Denied Calling card blocked, PIN Nonpayment - The calling O2000 card is blocked because of nonpayment. DENY 266 Denied Calling cardblocked, Service Restriction on PIN - There O2 000 is a servicerestriction on this PIN. DENY 267 Denied Calling card blocked, no PINsassigned. There is no O2 000 PIN assigned to this calling card/linenumber. DENY 268 Denied Calling card blocked, service denial - There isa service O2 000 restriction on this calling card. DENY 269 DeniedCalling Card - The calling card is a CIID (proprietary O2 000 card) forwhich there is no host. DENY 270 Denied BNS: Unexpected Data Value - NoCollect or Third- S 994 Party Calls are allowed. DENY 272 DeniedLIDB/CCC Response Time-out - A response was not S 180 received from thehost database within 4 seconds for a Telco query and 12 seconds for aBank query. DENY 273 Denied No Collect Calls at Customer Request - Theend user O2 000 customer requested the block for collect calls to thisline number. DENY 274 Denied BNS & No Calling Card Calls: Screened data.O2 000 DENY 275 Denied BNS: Hotel/Motel Auto Quote - with tax G4 000DENY 276 Denied BNS: Dormitory Line G4 225 DENY 277 Denied BNS:Hotel/Motel Auto Quote - without tax G4 000 DENY 278 Denied BNS: PBXLine G4 221 DENY 279 Denied BNS: Prison (IPP fka COCOT) G10 316 DENY 280Denied BNS: WATS Line G4 222 DENY 281 Denied No Third-party calls atCustomer Request - The end O2 000 user customer requested the block forthird-party calls to this line number. DENY 282 Denied BNS: LEC Public -Standard interface - Prepay G10 301 Overtime DENY 283 Denied BNS:Coinless (IPP fka COCOT) G10 314 DENY 284 Denied BNS: IC Public -Standard Interface G10 305 DENY 285 Denied BNS: Voice Quote - withouttax o6 450 DENY 286 Denied BNS: Voice Quote - with tax o6 451 DENY 287Denied BNS: IPP (fka COCOT) - Alternate Interface G10 312 DENY 288Denied BNS: Hospital G4 226 DENY 289 Denied BNS: Prison (non-IPP fkaCOCOT) G10 315 DENY 290 Denied BNS: LEC Semi-Public G10 308 DENY 291Denied BNS: Subsystem Congestion S 180 DENY 292 Denied BNS: SubsystemFailure S 180 DENY 293 Denied BNS: No translation for address of suchnature S 180 DENY 294 Denied BNS: Unequipped User S 999 DENY 295 DeniedBNS: Network Failure S 180 DENY 296 Denied BNS: Network congestion S 999DENY 297 Denied BNS: Cellular (cellular is distinct from mobile) G8 231DENY 298 Denied BNS and Calling Card - Although the NPANXX belongs G4228 to SWBT the end-user account number is no longer is a SWBT customer.The line number now belongs to another local service provider. DENY 299Failure LNP Only Look-Up, the NPANXX is not a portable LNP 000 range.DENY 301 Denied Y Denied Originating Number (ANI) - The ANI has an G2183 Admin. block to automatically decline all attempts from this linenumber. (Admin. Reply) DENY 302 Denied Y Terminating Number (DNI) has anAdmin. block to G2 182 automatically decline all attempts to this linenumber. (Admin. Reply) DENY 303 Denied Y Calling card has an Admin.block to automatically G2 000 decline all attempts to this line number.(Admin. Reply) DENY 304 Denied Y Collect Number has an Admin. block toautomatically G2 000 decline all attempts to this line number. (Admin.Reply) DENY 305 Denied Y Third Party Number has an Admin. block to G2000 automatically decline all attempts to this line number. (Admin.Reply) DENY 306 Denied Y Commercial credit card has an Admin. block toG2 000 automatically decline all attempts to this line number. (Admin.Reply) DENY 307 Denied Y Group Number has an Admin. block toautomatically G2 000 decline all attempts from this group. (Admin.Reply) DENY 308 Denied Y Global Negative Database Block - There is anAdmin. G2 000 block in the Global Negative Database to this line numberfor the Audiotext Industry. (Admin. Reply) DENY 309 Denied Y Excessivecalling card PIN hits - The threshold for bad G2 000 PIN attempts for acalling card was exceeded in the Admin. fraud control system (Admin.Reply). This is the same as reply code 055. DENY 400 Denied Commercialcredit card, Invalid Commercial credit card - 506 This is not a validcommercial credit card account number. It failed the MOD 10 check. Alsoan invalid amount, invalid date or a format error may cause thisresponse. (Host or Admin. Reply) DENY 401 Denied Commercial credit card,Call issuer - The authorization 507 attempt triggered a flag in thefraud control system of the issuing bank, Banknet or VISAnet. DENY 402Denied Commercial credit card, Confiscate card - No billing is 508allowed to this account number. If possible confiscate this card. DENY403 Denied Commercial credit card, Authorization Declined - No 509billing is allowed to this account number. DENY 404 Denied Commercialcredit card, Unable to Validate Account 510 Number - There is problem inauthorizing this account number. DENY 405 Denied Commercial credit card,Card expired - No billing is 511 allowed to this account number becausethe card has expired DENY 406 Denied Commercial credit card - InvalidMerchant ID 512 DENY 408 Denied Commercial credit card, Invalid card andAddress (zip 513 code) - Both the account number and the address or zipcode are invalid. Do not allow billing to this account number. DENY 409Denied Commercial credit card, System Problem - There is a 514 technicalproblem with the authorization system of the issuing bank, Banknet orVISAnet. DENY 420 Denied Commercial credit card, Over withdrawal limit -This 515 account has exceeded the withdrawal threshold in theauthorization system of the issuing bank DENY 421 Denied Commercialcredit card, Over credit limit - This account 516 has exceeded thecredit threshold in the authorization system of the issuing bank DENY422 Denied Commercial credit card, Lost card, Confiscate - - This 596account number was reported lost. No billing is allowed to this accountnumber. If possible confiscate this card. DENY 423 Denied Commercialcredit card, Stolen card, Confiscate card - 518 This card was reportedstolen. No billing is allowed to this account number. If possibleconfiscate this card. DENY 424 Denied Commercial credit card, InvalidPin - This means a bad 519 PIN was used. DENY 425 Denied Commercialcredit card, Allowable Number of PIN Tries 520 Exceeded - The thresholdfor bad PIN attempts for a calling card was exceeded in theauthorization system of the issuing bank, Banknet or VISAnet. DENY 426Denied Duplicate transaction. The Authorization host considers 521 thisa duplicate transaction.

[0126] In the embodiment of the invention depicted in the drawings,regardless of the type of service provider or the type of validationrequest, all clients or vendors 22 typically need a profile so that theprocess or method carried out by the module 200 knows how to treat therequest. The client or vendor profile is set up in a database whichincludes the indicators that are set for the type and tests for eachrequest which will be subsequently received from the vendor. Client orVendor Profile Table Fields Data Type Key Name Char (10) Client Char (4)Primary Product Char (3) Transtype Char (3) BTN_vs_AMI Null or notGlobal_Offnet Null or not Client_Offnet Null or not Product_Offnet Nullor not Calling_Card_Offnet Null or not Plan_Offnet Null or not ONNETNull or not CLEC Null or not Block42 Null or not Unbill Null or notCancel Null or not Smart_LIDB Null or not Area_Code_Split Null or notZip Null or not BNA Null or not BNA_AVAIL Null or not Threshold Null ornot Client_Bad_ANI Null or not Global_Bad_ANI Null or notProduct_Bad_ANI Null or not NON-PAY Null or not Goodwill Null or notReturn_To_Sender Null or not Credit_Check Null or not

[0127] In certain embodiments, the client or vendor profile is used todetermine which validation request type to convert from or to, whichvalidation checks should be performed on the ANI/BTN for the particularpurchase event, which checks are to be performed for the pre-billingvalidation event at the time of billing, and the billing recordconversion specifics for that client or vendor. Thus, the facility 28may customize is validation procedures to suit a specific client orvendor.

[0128] For the both the validation events, the client profile check istypically performed in facility 28 prior to carrying out the validitychecks. For example, the customer profile check may be included in step98 (see FIG. 13) and step 142 (see FIG. 14). The customer profileincludes client specific information which may determine the nature andextent of the validation process. Accordingly, the profile may bechecked as soon as the record is received from a registration module orthe customer management system 58. In use, a profile table is queried toidentify the validation checks to be performed by the module 30 and thechecks may differ between an initial purchase event or transaction andan associated subsequent billing event at the end of a bill cycle. Thesechecks may, dependent on the client profile, include checking if the ANIis the same as the BTN, if the subscriber line is listed in OFFNETdatabase 222, in the UNBILLS database 232, in the Blocking databases228,230, in the CLEC database 226, in the LIDB database 252, in theaddress verification database 244, or in databases including data onprevious credits, new lines, business lines area codes, area codechanges, or the like.

[0129] Additionally, the client profile is typically checked to seewhich billing record should be written for inclusion on the phone billfor that particular purchase. This may occur as the first part of step218 in FIG. 15 and step 260 in FIG. 17.

[0130] The client profile can also be used to determine the type ofbilling record to convert from and the type to convert to for inclusionthe telephone account 34 for the purchase or transaction. For example,the types of billing records may include a 425001 record for a monthlyrecurring charge; 010101, 010105, 010102, 010116 type records fordetailed, usage-based events; and 415001, 410101, 410105, 410102, 410116records for the credit records.

[0131] An example of software tables for implementing the steps in themethod set out in the flow diagrams shown in FIGS. 17 to 19 are shownbelow.

[0132] The first table shows the steps in the BTN test descriptionsprocess. Typically, a set of core tests is run for each client.Additionally, clients may have some configuration options to identifythe tests that best fit their program. PROCESS TESTs PURPOSE BILLABLEBTN TESTs VAL/Pre-bill Client profile Client profile for each id for BTNvalidation process test flags. VAL only ANI = BTN Determines iforiginating number = BTN input by caller. VAL/Pre-bill Invalid # OFFNETIds Invalid NPAs & NXXs VAL/Pre-bill Global OFFNET Ids (NPA)NXX & OCNcombinations where there is not a B&C agreement VAL/Pre-bill ProductOFFNET Ids (NPA)NXX & OCN combinations where the traffic type is notapproved to bill (Jul. 24, 2001: MRC only for NECA and Illuminet Only)VAL/Pre-bill Client OFFNET Ids (NPA)NXX & OCN combinations where therethe Client id (7###) is not approved to bill VAL/Pre-bill SpecialCalling Card Ids (NPA)NXX & OCN combinations of special calling card #sfor non-calling OFFNET card traffic that are unable to be billedVAL/Pre-bill Plan OFFNET Ids (NPA)NXX & OCN combinations where a ClientPlan is not approved to bill VAL/Pre-bill ONNET Ids (NPA)NXX & OCNcombinations where there are B&C agreements VAL/Pre-bill CLEC Ids(NPA)NXX-xxxx's are not billable due to CLEC for all Clients.VAL/Pre-bill 4250 BLOCK Ids (NPA)NXX-xxxx's that have a 4250 billingblock (for MRC only) VAL/Pre-bill UNBILL Ids (NPA)NXX-xxxx's that haveunbilled previously for all Clients VAL/Pre-bill Block & Cancel - Ids(NPA)NXX-xxxx's that requested a Block and/or Cancel; usually GLOBALinstitutional VAL/Pre-bill Block & Cancel - Ids (NPA)NXX-xxxx's thatrequested a Block and/or Cancel for a particular Client Specific Clientid VAL/1^(st) + n Val Code Cache Ids (NPA)NXX-xxxx & Return Codecombinations for previous request Pre-bill VAL/1^(st) Pre- LIDB ValidityTest To determine the billable status of the return code from the LIDBdip bill VAL/1^(st) Pre- LIDB CLEC RAO Ids RAOs that belong to CLECsbill VAL/1^(st) Pre- LIDB CLEC OCN Ids known CLEC OCNs bill VAL/1^(st)Pre- LIDB State Specific To determine if the returned LIDB code is astate specific code and then a bill Conversion conversion to thebillable OCN for the ONNET check VAL/1^(st) Pre- LIDB ONNET Ids billable(NPA)NXX & returned OCN combinations bill ALL VAL Trans Log Log of eachvalidation request and response by Client ID BTN CREDIT SCORINGVAL/Pre-bill AREA CODE Change Provides the new area code for the linenumber while in permissive dialing indicator period. Val ZIP MATCH ZIPmatches zip codes for (NPA) NXX (not in production as of June 2001)VAL/Pre-bill ANI WATCH - CLIENT (NPA)NXX-xxxx's where there arefund/chargeback has been issued (SOURCE: all) previously for thisClient ID VAL/Pre-bill ANI WATCH - CLIENT (NPA)NXX-xxxx's where there arefund has been issued previously for this (SOURCE: client) Client IDVAL/Pre-bill ANI WATCH - CLIENT (NPA)NXX-xxxx's where there achargeback/bad debt has been issued (SOURCE: ebi/telco) previously forthis Client ID VAL/Pre-bill ANI WATCH - GLOBAL (NPA)NXX-xxxx's wherethere a refund/chargeback/bad debt has been (SOURCE: all) issuedpreviously from CLIENT, ebi or telco VAL/Pre-bill ANI WATCH -(NPA)NXX-xxxx's where there a refund/chargeback/bad debt has beenPRODUCT issued previously for the same product (SOURCE: all) VAL AddressVerification Not Available TEST BEFORE FIRST BTN BILLING VAL/Pre-billLEC CARE FEED Determines if the ILEC owns the Acct. for billingVAL/Pre-bill Biz vs Res Determines the commercial or consumer status forcredit score Example TESTs VAL/Pre-bill Threshold by Client Determineswhether the BTN has met a Client specific threshold VAL/Pre-bill LECPROV feed To determine if LEC owns Acct VAL/Pre-bill Credit Check Creditheader files check from Credit source VAL/Pre-bill New within 90 daysDetermines if BTN is less than 90 days old; affects credit score

[0133] The OFFNET table family contains OCN & NPA_NXX combinations wherebilling is not approved. If found, the BTN does not continue on thevalidation path. Fields Data Type Key Invalid # OFFNET Table NPA_NXXNumeric(6) Primary OFFNET Global Table NPA_NXX Numeric(6) Primary OFFNETProduct Table OCN Int(4) NPA_NXX Numeric(6) Primary NSP_ProductVarchar(10) Primary OFFNET Client Table OCN Int(4) Primary Client IDChar(4) Secondary Special Calling Card OFFNET Table OCN Int(4)NPA_NXX_xxxx Numeric(10) Primary Plan OFFNET Table Client id Char(4)Primary OCN Int(4) Primary NPA_NXX Numeric(6) Primary NSP_Plan Char(3)Primary

[0134] The ONNET table determines if an NPA_NXX & OCN combination can befound among the billable combinations. In this case a match, allows theBTN to move further on the validation path. A no match will return afailure. ONNET Table Fields Data Type Key OCN Numeric(4) NPA_NXXNumeric(6) Primary

[0135] The CLEC table consists of CLECs that the proprietor, or user ofthe module 200, does not have billing contracts with. This table isspecific to the line number. Sources dictate the fields that will bepresent for the record. A match here is considered a fail and does notcontinue. CLEC Table Fields Data Type Key BTN Numeric(10) Primary JulianChar(3) Year Char(2) Date DateTime OCN Int(4)

[0136] The 4250 Block table consists of specific line numbers thatcannot be billed for 4250-01 record types. A match in this table stopsthe validation movement. 4250 Block Table Fields Data Type Key BTNNumeric(10) Primary Julian Char(3) Year Char(2) Date DateTime

[0137] Bill Control Family Tables

[0138] The Unbills or unbillable table holds all the BTNs that have beensent to a subscribers bill page but could not be placed on the bill pagefor various reasons. A match here halts the validation sequence for thesubject BTN. Unbill Table Fields Data Type Key BTN Numeric(10) PrimaryClient id Int(4) Secondary Product VarChar(3) Tertiary Date DateTimeReason Code AlphaN(2)

[0139] Block and cancel tables identify BTNs that have requested apermanent or a Client specific block for billing. A match sends a failedresponse. Fields Data Type Key Block & Cancel - Global Table BTNNumeric(10) Primary Date DateTime Block & Cancel - Client Specific TableBTN Numeric(10) Primary Date DateTime Client id Numeric(4) Secondary

[0140] Validation Cache is a table that holds responses in order not toprocess duplicates (e.g., Submit pressed 10 times). A match here willreturn the code stored from a previous request. Validation Cache TableFields Data Type Key BTN Numeric(10) Primary Response Char(3) DateDateTime

[0141] LIDB Family Tables

[0142] LIDB is a third party that supplies information to the phone linenumber level. The module 30 typically tests and stores as many relevantfields as can be requested in a transaction. LIDB Codes Table FieldsData Type Key LIDB Char(3) Primary Description Char(100) RFC Char(3) ISPChar(3) OSP Char(3) CCC Char(3) LDD Char(3) CRC Char(3)

[0143] The LIDB Validity Table translates the LIDB code into a billableor non-billable response according to predefined business rules. A failhere will halt the validation for the request. LIDB Validity TranslationTable Fields Data Type Key BTN Numeric(10) Primary Date DateTimeLIDB_Code Char(3) OCN Char(4) TransType Char(3) Updated bit RAO Char(3)

[0144] The State specific table is a conversion from a true OCN to aknown State Specific OCN that is billable. A match here will trigger theconversion, the

[0145] BTN Continues in the Validation Process. LIDB State Specific OCNTable Fields Data Type Key ST_OCN Numeric(4) Primary Billable_OCNNumeric(4)

[0146] The transaction log is the history of each transaction requestand response that is processed through the validation system. VALTransaction Log Table Fields Data Type Key CLIENT ID Int(3) ANINumeric(10) LidbCode Char(3) Date DateTime Primary

[0147] The TPM indicates that an NPA is in the permissive dialingperiod. A match here appends the record with the updated number for arecord update. Fields Data Type Key TPM Change Table NPA_NXX Numeric(6)Primary DATE DateTime TPM Delete Table NPA_NXX Numeric(6) None DATEDateTime None

Validation Table Maintenance

[0148] TABLE LOAD TABLE SCHEDULE SOURCE HOW Client profile Adds &changes CSA Manual ANI = BTN NA NA NA Invalid # OFFNET Adds & changesRejects/Unbills* Manual Global OFFNET 2× weekly CYCLE OFFNET FullReplace Thurs for Mon cycle P:/WC30/FILES/ONOFF Tues for Thurs cycleCIC: 903 Product OFFNET Fridays Client Directory Full Replace Cust7000Directory Client OFFNET Fridays Client Directory Full Replace CYCLEfiles Load for each client id. Special Calling Card Fridays CYCLE OFFNETFull Replace OFFNET P:/WC30/FILES/ONOFF CIC: 903 Plan OFFNET Adds &changes NA Manual ONNET 2× weekly CYCLE ONNET Full Replace Thurs for Moncycle P:/WC30/FILES/ONOFF Tues for Thurs cycle CIC: 903 CLEC1 MondaysCLEC MASTER* Incremental adds CLEC2 as process LIDB Fails for LIDBOCN/RAO tests Insert with source responses CLEC3 as process BNA TCSI2618s, 2619s codes that fail Insert with source responses for BNA 4250BLOCK Mondays Block42 Master Incremental adds UNBILL Mondays UnbillMaster from UB1s Incremental adds Block & Cancel - Mondays INQ fileIncremental adds GLOBAL Block & Cancel - Client Mondays INQ files forClients Incremental adds Specific Val CACHE as process LIDB LIDBrequests Insert new requests LIDB Validity Test NA NA NA LIDB CLEC RAOas process LIDB Code 998 only (new Telcordia TBD requests source) LIDBCLEC OCN As process LIDB P:OCN.dat Full replace requests LIDB StateSpecific Adds & changes NA manual VAL Trans Log Adds NA All adds AREACODE Change Adds TPM All adds indicator *See Exhibit B for Billingrejects and Unbills codes that are loaded into tables. TABLE PURGE TABLESCHEDULE TRIGGER HOW Client profile changes NA manual ANI = BTN NAInvalid # OFFNET changes NA manual Global OFFNET See load See load Fullreplace Product OFFNET See load See load Full replace Client OFFNET Seeload See load Full replace Special Calling Card See load See load Fullreplace OFFNET Plan OFFNET See load See load Full replace ONNET See loadSee load Full replace CLEC 90 days Insert date Delete from table 4250BLOCK 180 days Delete from table UNBILL OCN Moratorium Insert date andDelete from table elapsed time Block & Cancel - No purge Delete fromtable GLOBAL Block & Cancel - Every 6 months From insert date Deletefrom table Client Specific VAL CACHE >2 < 30 days; From insert dateDelete from table >180 days LIDB Validity Test As changes NA Manual LIDBCLEC RAO See load NA Full replace LIDB CLEC OCN See load NA Full replaceVAL Trans Log No purge AREA CODE Change Monthly Completion of TPMdeletions indicator Permissive Dialing period

[0149] Exhibit A

[0150] Example Tables

[0151] Zip to NPA_NXX source allows for best 3 zips for an NPA_NXXcombination. Tests show a 70% match rate. This rate has been improved bymatching to position 1-3 of the Zip. The low match rate combined withthe fact that a BTN is not a portable instrument, this test is notrecommended for BTN validation. Zip Match Table Fields Data type KeyNPA_NXX Numeric(6) Primary ZIP1 Numeric(5) None ZIP3 Numeric(5) NoneZIP3 Numeric(5) None

[0152] The following tests are optionally carried out in otherembodiments of the invention. ANI WATCH Table Fields Data Type Key BTNNumeric(10) Primary NSP_Product Char(5) None Client id Numeric(3) NoneDATETIME Numeric(4) None SOURCE Numeric(6) None

[0153] The ANI Watch has BTNs that have been given an adjustment forcharges by the Client, proprietor or user of the module 200 or theTelco. This is to help the client determine the credit score for theBTN. Fields Data Type Key Billing Name and Address Table NameVarchar(30) None Address1 Varchar(30) None Address2 Varchar(30) NoneAddress3 Varchar(30) None City Varchar(20) None State CHAR(2) None Zip +4 Numeric(10) None BTN Numeric(10) None DATE DateTime None SourceVarchar(20) None BTN Thresholding Table BTN Numeric(10) None DATEDateTime None Client ID Numeric(3) None eBi RESPONSE CODE Char(3) NoneNSP Product Char(10) None Total Int(4) None Exhibit B Loaded Reject andUnbill Codes Reject Reject Code LOAD Codes Description in DB? DB? PURGE?15 ORIGINATING NXX Y Invalid N INVALID (NXX = OFFNET 555 OR 976) 44BILLING NXX Y INVALID N INVALID (NXX = 555 OR 976) 48 REFUSE TO PAY/ENDY B&C NORMAL USER REJECT 74 LEC REQUESTED Y B&C NORMAL BLOCK 93REGULATORY BLOCK Y B&C NORMAL 94 INTRASTATE LEC Y B&C NORMAL BLOCK 95ANI BLOCK Y B&C NORMAL 98 NON-LOCAL Y B&C NORMAL INTRASTATE BLOCK M0SHARED NPA-NXX Y CLEC 90 DAYS (CLEC) 12 ORIG NPA/NXX NOT Y Invalid NEVERON TPM OFFNET 15 ORIG NXX INVALID Y Invalid NEVER (NXX = 555 OFFNET OR976) 16 ORIG NPA INVALID Y Invalid NEVER OFFNET 30 TERM NPA = 800 YInvalid NEVER OFFNET 44 BILLING NXX Y Invalid NEVER INVALID (NXX =OFFNET 555 OR 976) AS INVALID NPA CODE Y Invalid NEVER OFFNET 18 ORIGNUM INVALID Y UNBILL OCN 34 TERMINATING Y UNBILL OCN NUMBER INVALID 36SPECIAL BILLING Y UNBILL OCN NBR - AT&T ONLY 37 SPECIAL BILLING Y UNBILLOCN NBR - CINCINNATI BELL ONLY 38 SPECIAL BILLING Y UNBILL OCN NUMBERINVALID 41 BILLING NPA/NXX Y UNBILL OCN IN SPECIAL BILL NBR NVALID 59SUSPECTED FRAUD Y UNBILL OCN A1 SUSPECTED FRAUD Y UNBILL OCN NUMBER A7INVALID BILL Y UNBILL OCN TO COIN ACCOUNT A8 NO ACCOUNT Y UNBILL OCN B0NO ACCOUNT AFTER Y UNBILL OCN INVESTIGATION D6 INVALID BILLING Y UNBILLOCN NUMBER E6 CALLS OVER Y UNBILL OCN $999.99 F1 BILLED TO Y UNBILL OCNCELLULAR/MOBILE NUMBER G1 ACCOUNT IN Y UNBILL OCN WRITE-OFF STATUS H8REBILL - NO Y UNBILL OCN LONGER BILLABLE BY PB K2 TOLL BILLING Y UNBILLOCN RESTRICTION U0 DENY ALL KNOWLEDGE Y UNBILL OCN (DAK) U6 END-USERACCOUNT Y UNBILL OCN IN FINAL STATUS K4 LEC INITIATED BILL Y UNBILL OCNBLOCK L6 DENIAL STATUS Y UNBILL OCN RESTRICTION (891/CIID) L7DISCONNECTED Y UNBILL OCN ACCOUNT DUE TO NONPAYMENT V7 RESTRICTEDACCOUNT Y UNBILL OCN A9 EC DOES NOT HAVE Y UNBILL OCN BILLINGARRANGEMENT WITH IC Exhibit C OCN PURGE SCHDEULE Days NAMES OCNS 90Ameritech, Pac Bell, Nevada Bell, 9321, 9323, 9325, 9327, SNET, SWBT,Bell Atlantic, Nynex, 9329, 9740, 9742, 9147, Bell South 9102, 9104,9206, 9208, 9210, 9211, 9212, 9213, 9214, 9496 120 Sprint United 0341,0470, 832, 9993 180 CBT, GTE, NECA, Illuminet, Alltel, All othersCitizens, Qwest, default

[0154] Unlike conventional use of the LIDB database that uses the LIDBdata to obtain information on a destination/termination or recipientlocation or subscriber unit, the module 200, in accordance with theinvention, uses the industry standard LIDB database to obtain relevantinformation on the initiating subscriber line 96. The subscriber linereference data obtained from the LIDB database is then processed togenerate modified validity codes, which provide a vendor with data tofacilitate deciding whether or not a transaction should be processed.The LIDB/LNP database is queried as if a collect call event is occurringand a call is thus mimicked. The processing of the transaction typicallyinvolves communicating the relevant transaction data to a folder of thesubscriber's account with a relevant Telco. The method of, and module200 for, validating the billing account associated with the subscriberline allows, for example, a subscriber line to be used to validate andconclude a transaction instead of using a conventional paymenttechniques such as a credit card, debit card, bank account details orthe like.

[0155] A current industry-wide problem is the lack of ability of aservice provider to identify when a line subscriber has switched hisservice to a CLEC since the service provider may not have an existingbilling arrangement with such a CLEC and may also not have a source forthe BNA to allow for a direct billing solution. LNP databases wereoriginally established for the purpose of directing call routingactivities among facilities-based carriers and most telephone numbersported to a CLEC do not involve a facility change (the CLEC may besimply reselling the incumbent LEC's facilities). This means that, forbilling decision purposes, LNP queries usually provide an incorrectresponse.

[0156] The LNP queries are enhanced by analyzing and interpreting otherfield elements included within the query response. Specifically, certainvalues or, in some cases, the absence of certain values, in theOperating Company Number (“OCN”) and/or the Regional Accounting Office(“RAO”) fields, allows further accuracy in the validation response.While the definitions of the OCN and RAO field elements can be obtainedfrom industry sources, their interpreted use in the validation processis unique to the present invention. Use of these additional dataelements can improve the reliability of the validation event.

[0157] LNP results may be supplemented with CARE queries in LEC regionswhere LNP results are inadequate and CARE costs are not otherwiseprohibitive based on the retail price of the underlying service. CAREprovides a reliable result on CLEC-ported numbers since its basicpurpose is to provide subscriber account information (such as billingname and address). Once a number is ported to a CLEC, the incumbent LECno longer has subscriber responsibility and will, therefore, return an“unavailable” response, even if the LEC's dial-tone facility is stillbeing utilized. This negative response is then used to generate a “deny”status on the subscriber based on the current lack of CLEC billingsupport.

[0158] The validation process is also supplemented through the use ofinternal databases built from information gathered throughout thebilling and collection process.

[0159] It is important to appreciate that all of the steps in the methodexecuted by the module 200 need not be executed in real time. Typically,after the approval code 000 has been generated by the module 200 at step334 the module 200 terminates its pre-validation check routine as shownat step 336. At this point the module 200 may merely providepre-validation data or verification data to indicate to the vendor 22 ifthe subscriber line 96 is billable. Thus the module 200 may, in a firstinteraction with the vendor 22 provide pre-validation data, and in asecond interaction process billing information. During the processing ofbilling information the validation process may once again be executed.In certain embodiments, the first interaction may be in the form of aregistration process during which the validation procedure is carriedout to register a subscriber line 96. The vendor 22 may then conductnumerous transactions with subscriber and subsequent validation checkson the subscriber line may then only be carried out on a periodic basisas described above.

[0160] After the validation code has been sent to the vendor 22, and thepre-validation procedure has been complete, the module 200 then carriesout the fraud checks on a non-real time basis (usually during the next48 to 72 hours) as shown in steps 340 to 344. The information obtainedduring the fraud control checks, if necessary, is used to update thevarious databases. In particular, after a BTN has been successfullyvalidated but before a billing event takes place, the CARE investigationsteps 340 to 344 are executed. The module 200 is typically arranged tointerrogate offsite CARE databases and the results of the enquiry arestored in the CARE database 246. Checks on the data received from theCARE databases are then performed whereafter one or more of the otherdatabases may be updated with the results. For example, the CAREdatabase 246 may be updated, new within 90 days information, businessindicator information, or the like. CARE codes 2618 and 2619 typicallyindicate that the BNA is not available and that the LEC no longer ownsthe account.

[0161] The updating of the databases following the CARE investigationallows enhanced future checks by the module 200 in a subsequentpre-validation procedure or subsequent registration event validationevent. The updated information may be provided to the vendor 22.However, if the BTN information returned from the CARE database 246 doesnot meet predefined criteria, the other databases of the module 200 arenot updated.

[0162] When a purchase validation event or billing event is declined,fails, unbillable or is negative event for any reason, the purchaser ispreferably apprised. The manner in which the failure is treated dependsupon the point in time and the reason the transaction validation orbilling event fails.

[0163] In certain embodiments, a business rule table drives thetreatment method and course based on when the failed event occurredduring the validation process and the reason for the failure. With apurchase validation event, the option may be provided to interact withthe purchaser at the time of requesting the purchase. For example, theoption to change failed information for a revalidation or to change toanother payment option may be provided. An example of customer failuremay be as follows: If a purchase validation event fails: Then thecustomer treatment may be: ANI = BTN Screen pop requesting new numberand or to call from the matching number. Missing or Screen poprequesting correct cust code. incorrect cust code THRESHOLD Screen popexplaining this and a request for another payment method. OFFNET Screenpop explaining this and a request for another payment method. CLECScreen pop explaining this and a link to change carrier to ILEC. Orrequest another payment option. 42 Block Screen pop explaining this anda link to ILEC to unblock 4250. Or request another payment option. BLOCKand Screen pop explaining this and a request for another CANCEL paymentmethod. Also include explanation as to how to unblock. UNBILLs Screenpop explaining this and a request for another payment method. LIDB CodeFail Screen pop explaining this and a request for another paymentmethod. LIDB RAO/OCN Screen pop explaining this and a link to changefail carrier to ILEC. Or request another payment option. ADDRESS Screenpop requesting correct information. VERIFICATION Previous Screen popexplaining this and a link to inquiry Adjustment chat or inquiry callinformation. Unpaid Balance See above.

[0164] At the time of a pre-billing validation event or a failed billingevent, the interaction with the purchaser will be after the fact and istypically in a screen pop at the next sign-on and in email form. Incertain embodiments, there is a preset length of time to correct thefailed information for a revalidation or change to a new payment method.If a pre-bill validation event fails: Then the customer treatment maybe: OFFNET Screen pop at next id sign-on explaining this and requestingchange of payment method. Email containing the same information and linkto update payment information. CLEC Screen pop at next id sign-onexplaining this and instructions how to solve or update payment methodinformation. Email containing the same information and a link to changecarrier to ILEC and link to update payment method. 42 Block Screen popat next id sign-on explaining this and instructions how to solve orupdate payment method information. Email containing the same informationand link to unblock at ILEC or link to update payment information. BLOCKand Screen pop at next id sign-on explaining this and CANCELinstructions hot to solve or update payment method information requestfor another payment method. Email requesting the same information and alink to change carrier to ILEC and link to update payment method UNBILLsScreen pop at next id sign-on explaining this and requesting change ofpayment method. Email containing the same information and link to updatepayment information. LIDB Code Fail Screen pop at next id sign-onexplaining this and requesting change of payment method. Emailcontaining the same information and link to update payment information.LIDB RAO/OCN Screen pop at next id sign-on explaining this and failinstructions how to solve or update payment method information. Emailcontaining the same information and a link to change carrier to ILEC andlink to update payment method Previous Screen pop at next sign-onexplaining this and a link Adjustment to inquiry chat or inquiry callinformation. Unpaid Balance See above. If a billing event fails: Thenthe customer treatment may be: Unbills Screen pop at next id sign-onexplaining this, requesting payment of unbilled charge and suggestionsof ways to solve including a link to switch back to the ILEC and a wayto update new phone number. It will also include a request for a changeof payment method. Email containing the same information, link to changeback to ILEC, to update with a new phone number, update to updatepayment information also contains link to inquiry chat or inquiry call.Chargeback Screen pop at next sign-on explaining this and a link toinquiry chat or inquiry call information. Bad Debt Screen pop at nextsign-on explaining this and a Write-off link to inquiry chat or inquirycall information.

[0165] Once the treatment period passes, the account access is typicallydenied and more traditional ways of saving, winning back, andreactivation or collections activities would take place.

[0166] In the embodiment described above, information on the subscriberline 96 is forwarded by the service provider or vendor 22 to the module200 for validation. However, in other embodiments of the invention, theconsumer or user may call the module 200 directly, as shown by line 350in FIG. 1, and the ANI may then be obtained by the module 200 directlyfrom the terminal 24 and not indirectly from the vendor 22. Furthersubscriber line data, e.g. BTN, address of the user and so on, may thenalso be obtained directly from the user. For example, the user may haveappropriate software installed on his/her PC which allows the user todial into the module 200 in an automated fashion should he/she wish tocharge any requested goods or services to his/her subscriber account.The module 200 would then validate the subscriber line 96 using themethod describer above. The module 200 then typically communicates avalidation code (e.g. corresponding to approval or non-approval) to thevendor 22 as shown by line 352. The vendor 22 would then conclude thetransaction with the user if the subscriber line has been validated.

[0167] In the first iteration of the validation process in which avalidation request is received from the vendor 22, the ANI of thesubscriber line 96 is captured to identify the subscriber line to whichthe terminal 24 is connected so that the validation process can beexecuted and the transaction or purchase can be approved and the billingprocess can be effected. It is to be appreciated however that thevalidation process and further prosecution of the transaction may takeplace based on the BTN which the user enters but that the capturing ofthe ANI may reduce the likelihood of fraud. Thus, if the ANI iscaptured, it may be done during an initial enquiry, purchase event, orat any other time during the process.

[0168] In other embodiments of the invention, in addition to or insteadof capturing the ANI, the system 20 may request a user to enter theunique number associated with every phone billing account that Telcoscurrently issue. These additional digits are typically found at the endof the account number on a conventional telephone bill. These digits,sometimes called customer codes, identify the account associated withthat particular assignment of the phone number. These codes provide away to avoid capturing the ANI because typically only the account holderhas access to this number thereby reducing the chance of fraud. Thus,the display screen 86 of FIG. 11 optionally includes the field 364 inwhich a user can enter the customer codes. An appropriate database wouldthen be interrogated to validate the subscriber line. In one embodimentof the invention, the interrogation is included in the LIDB step, andincludes details on the account to the customer code level.

[0169] The customer codes may thus eliminate the need to capture the ANIby the module 60 (see FIG. 5) and, customer code data may be compared bythe comparator module 218 (see FIG. 15) and as shown in step 264 in FIG.17. As described above, the display screen 86 then includes the field264 to accommodate this facility. Likewise, if the phone number is notconfirmed, then the input screen would be provided with the customercode field.

[0170] When the customer code is used to validate the subscriber line96, a step to interrogate the information is included in whichadditional information is sent to the LIDB database 252 (see FIG. 15) instep 124 of FIG. 13, and step 290 in FIG. 17. Additionally, stepsrelating to the return of LIDB data are updated to include the resultsof the interrogation of this piece of information.

[0171] The facility 28 may function as a type of clearing house. Inparticular, the facility 28 may be responsible or accountable forpayment of the goods or services for each transaction to the serviceprovider or vendor 22 and, in turn, receive payment from the Telco. Asmentioned above, the module 200 updates the telephone bill or account 34of the subscriber in an automated fashion (see line) and the bill 356that the user receives (see FIG. 1) includes the charges for the goodsand/or services provided by the vendor 22. The user pays the Telco 26(see line 358), the Telco 26 pays the facility 28 (see line 360), andthe facility 28 pays the vendor 22 (see line 362). It is important toappreciate that these payments need not take place at the same time.Typically, the payments between the Telco 26 and the facility 28, andthe facility 28 and vendor 22, take place periodically in a batchfashion the PC 24, and modules 30, 32 are exemplary forms of computersystems or machines within which a set of instructions, for causing themachine to perform any one of the methodologies discussed above, may beexecuted. In alternative embodiments, the machine may comprise a networkrouter, a network switch, a network bridge, Personal Digital Assistant(PDA), a cellular telephone, a web appliance or any machine capable ofexecuting a sequence of instructions that specify actions to be taken bythat machine.

[0172] Each machines includes a processor, a main memory and a staticmemory, which communicate with each other via a bus. The machines mayfurther include a video display unit (e.g., a liquid crystal display(LCD) or a cathode ray tube (CRT)). The machine also includes analpha-numeric input device (e.g. a keyboard), a cursor control device(e.g. a mouse), a disk drive unit, a signal generation device (e.g. aspeaker) and a network interface device.

[0173] The disk drive unit includes a machine-readable medium on whichis stored a set of instructions (i.e., software) embodying any one, orall, of the methodologies described above. The software is also shown toreside, completely or at least partially, within the main memory and/orwithin the processor. The software may further be transmitted orreceived via the network interface device. For the purposes of thisspecification, the term “machine-readable medium” shall be taken toinclude any medium which is capable of storing or encoding a sequence ofinstructions for execution by the machine and that cause the machine toperform any one of the methodologies of the present invention. The term“machine-readable medium” shall accordingly be taken to included, butnot be limited to, solid-state memories, optical and magnetic disks, andcarrier wave signals.

What we claim is:
 1. A method of processing payment for a transaction,the method including: providing a user with an option, via an electronicterminal, to select payment for the transaction from an accountassociated with a communication line to which the electronic terminal isconnected; receiving a user request entered into the terminal to processpayment from the account; investigating data associated with thecommunication line; and selectively approving the transaction dependentupon an outcome of the investigation.
 2. A method as claimed in claim 1,in which the communication line is a subscriber line and the account isa telephone account associated with the subscriber line.
 3. A method asclaimed in claim 2, which includes identifying a telephone number of thesubscriber line using automatic number identification (ANI) techniques.4. A method as claimed in claim 3, which includes combining thetelephone number and transaction data to form a financial instrumentrecord.
 5. A method as claimed in claim 4, in which the financialinstrument record is an industry standard credit card record.
 6. Amethod as claimed in claim 3, in which investigating data associatedwith the communication line includes performing a validation process inwhich data associated with the telephone number is investigated.
 7. Amethod as claimed in claim 6, which includes obtaining a user enteredtelephone number from the electronic terminal and comparing the userentered telephone number with the telephone number obtained using ANItechniques.
 8. A method as claimed in claim 6, in which the validationprocess includes retrieving information form a line identificationdatabase (LIDB).
 9. A method as claimed in claim 6, which includes:communicating a validating message on approval of the transaction if thevalidation process validates the subscriber line; and routing processingof the transaction to a financial instrument gateway in the event of thevalidation process not validating the subscriber line.
 10. A method ofmodifying a financial instrument record, the method including: receivingtransaction data entered into an electronic terminal connected via acommunication line to a communication network; obtaining a uniqueidentifier associated with the communication line; and combining theunique identifier and the transaction data to form a financialinstrument record.
 11. A method as claimed in claim 10, in which thefinancial instrument record is selected from the group including acredit card record and a debit card record.
 12. A method as claimed inclaim 11, in which the financial instrument record is receivable by aCustomer Management System.
 13. A method as claimed in claim 12, inwhich the communication line is a subscriber line and the uniqueidentifier is a telephone number associated with the subscriber line.14. A method as claimed in claim 13, in which the telephone numberreplaces a financial instrument number in the financial instrumentrecord.
 15. A method of validating a transaction conducted using anelectronic terminal connected via a communication line to an electronicnetwork, the method including: receiving a financial instrument recordassociated with the transaction; extracting a unique identifier from thefinancial instrument record, the unique identifier being associated withthe communication line; and interrogating at least one database based onthe unique identifier to obtain data associated with the communicationline and selectively generating a validation status.
 16. A method asclaimed in claim 15, in which the unique identifier is a telephonenumber of a subscriber line and processor module retrieves informationfrom a line identification database (LIDB).
 17. A method as claimed inclaim 16, in which charges for the transaction are included in anaccount associated with the subscriber line.
 18. A method as claimed inclaim 16, which communicates a validating message on approval thetransaction if the subscriber line is validated, and routes processingof the transaction to a financial card gateway in the event of thesubscriber line is not validated.
 19. A transaction processing systemfor processing a transaction between a vendor and an electronic terminalconnected via a communication line to a communication network, thesystem including: an application interface for providing a user, via theelectronic terminal, with an option to select payment for thetransaction from an account associated with the communication line, andreceiving a user request entered into the terminal to process paymentfrom the account; and a modification module connected to the applicationinterface, the modification module generating a record which includes aunique identifier associated with the communication line andcommunicating the record to a validation module which validates thetransaction based on data associated with the unique identifier.
 20. Asystem as claimed in claim 19, in which payment is routed to financialcard gateway if the validation module invalidates the transaction.
 21. Asystem as claimed in claim 19, in which the communication line is asubscriber line and the unique identifier is a telephone numberassociated with the subscriber line.
 22. A system as claimed in claim21, which includes an automatic line identification (ANI) moduleautomatically to identify the telephone number.
 23. A system as claimedin claim 22, in which the validation module includes: a telephone numberextraction module for extracting a telephone number from the record, thetelephone number defining the unique identifier; and a processor modulewhich interrogates at least one reference data base to obtain dataassociated with the telephone number and, in response thereto, generatesa validation status.
 24. A system as claimed in claim 22, in which theprocessor module interrogates a line identification database (LIDB). 25.A system as claimed in claim 22, in which the processor module validatesthe transaction if charges can be included in the account associatedwith the subscriber line, and invalidates the transaction if the chargescannot be included in the account.
 26. A system as claimed in claim 23,which includes an exchange interface for interfacing the validationmodule to an accounting facility of a telecommunications company atwhich the account is held thereby automatically to include the chargesfor the transaction in the account.
 27. A system as claimed in claim 19,in which the record is an industry standard financial instrument record.28. A system as claimed in claim 27, in which the record is selectedfrom the group including a credit card record and a debit card record.29. A transaction processor interface for processing payment of atransaction, the interface including: an application interface forproviding a user with an option, via an electronic terminal, to selectpayment for the transaction from an account associated with acommunication line to which the electronic terminal is connected, andfor receiving a user request entered into the electronic terminal toprocess payment from the account; and a modification module for creatinga financial instrument record which includes a unique identifierassociated with the communication line.
 30. A transaction processorinterface as claimed in claim 29, in which the communication line is asubscriber line and the account is a telephone account associated withthe subscriber line.
 31. A transaction processor interface as claimed inclaim 30, which includes an automatic number identification (ANI) moduleto obtain a unique identifier in the form of a telephone number of thesubscriber line.
 32. A transaction processor interface as claimed inclaim 29, which includes a communications module for communicating thefinancial instrument record to a validation module for validating thetransaction based on data associated with the unique identifier.
 33. Atransaction processing interface as claimed in claim 29, in which thefinancial instrument record is selected from the group including acredit card record and a debit card record.
 34. A transaction validationmodule for validating a transaction conducted using an electronicterminal connected via a communication line to an electronic network,the module including: an extraction module for extracting a uniqueidentifier from a financial instrument record associated with atransaction, the unique identifier being associated with thecommunication line; and a processor module for interrogating at leastone database based on the unique identifier to obtain data associatedwith the communication line and selectively generating a validationstatus.
 35. A transaction validation module as claimed in claim 34, inwhich the unique identifier is a telephone number and the processormodule retrieves the data form a line identification database (LIDB).36. A transaction validation module as claimed in claim 35, in whichcharges for the transaction are included in an account associated withthe communication line.
 37. A transaction validation module as claimedin claim 34, which communicates a validating message on approval thetransaction if the communication line is validated, and routesprocessing of the transaction to a financial card gateway if thecommunication line is not validated.
 38. A computer program productincluding a medium readable by a processor, the medium carryinginstructions which, when executed by the processor, cause the processorto: provide a user with an option, via an electronic terminal, to selectpayment for a transaction from an account associated with acommunication line to which the electronic terminal is connected;receive a user request entered into the terminal to process payment fromthe account; investigate data associated with the communication line;and selectively approve the transaction dependent upon an outcome of theinvestigation.
 39. A product as claimed in claim 38, in which thecommunication line is a subscriber line and the account is a telephoneaccount associated with the subscriber line.
 40. A product as claimed inclaim 39, which includes identifying a telephone number of thesubscriber line using automatic number identification (ANI) techniques.41. A product as claimed in claim 39, which includes combining thetelephone number and transaction data to form a financial instrumentrecord.
 42. A computer program product including a medium readable by aprocessor, the medium carrying instructions which, when executed by theprocessor, cause the processor to: receive transaction data entered intoan electronic terminal connected via a communication line to acommunication network; obtain a unique identifier associated with thecommunication line; and combine the unique identifier and thetransaction data to form a financial instrument record.
 43. A product asclaimed in claim 42, in which the financial instrument record isselected from the group including a credit card record and a debit cardrecord.
 44. A product as claimed in claim 42, in which the financialinstrument record is receivable by an Internet-based Customer ManagementSystem.
 45. A computer program product including a medium readable by aprocessor, the medium carrying instructions which, when executed by theprocessor, cause the processor to: receive a financial instrument recordassociated with a transaction conducted using an electronic terminalconnected via a subscriber line connected to a communication network;extract a unique identifier from the financial instrument record, theunique identifier being associated with the communication line; andinterrogate at least one database based on the unique identifier toobtain data associated with the unique identifier and selectivelygenerate a validation status.
 46. A product as claimed in claim 45, inwhich the unique identifier is a telephone number and the processorretrieves information form a line identification database (LIDB).
 47. Amethod as claimed in claim 45, in which charges for the transaction areincluded in an account associated with the communication line.